(PHOTO: The first Team Dayā school build in Dhayapur, Nepal, October 2019. Left to right: Jaryd Knutsen, Winnie Yang, Jay Sears, Hasan Arik, Jordan MItchell and Suman Chagarlamudi.)
Team Dayā is pleased to announced its 2026 school building dates. For our supporters that want to bear witness to Building Change, and see for themselves the impact of primary school education in fighting poverty and illiteracy, consider joining us.
Curious? Have questions? Contact our Head of Recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. You can also contact any Team Dayā member and ask about her or his experience (scroll through our site). Each participant on a Team Dayā school build covers 100% of her own cost, and commits to raising money towards our school construction fund.
If you work in advertising or technology, there is almost certainly someone you know among our team members and supporters! Read the first person accounts of school building and listen to some of our Team Dayā members, just below. We also welcome others who are not able to travel but still want to joining a team and help us raise funds.
Team Dayā 2026 School Project Dates:
Guatemala 2026
Sunday, March 22, 2026 – Saturday, March 28, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
Arrive & depart: Guatemala City, Guatemala (GUA-La Aurora Intl.)
Malawi 2026
Sunday, June 28, 2026 – Saturday, July 4, 2026
Arrival by 2pm on first day, departure after 10am on last day
(PHOTO: Construction for the second Team Dayā school in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal was completed in August 2024.)
The Team Dayā school in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal is complete. It is the second school the group has funded in the community. The groundbreaking took place earlier in the summer on June 24, 2024 (see: Jeff Green Joins Team Dayā’s School Groundbreaking in Senegal).
The group financed a first school in the community of Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal in 2022, when the community only had two temporary classrooms made from millet stalks, sticks, leaves and cardboard. The community has expanded its student population to nearly 200 from around 50 prior to the construction of the first school.
The school currently has 5 grades offered; grade 1 – grade 5. The current enrollment of 193 pupils (96 boys and 97 girls) is up from the previous enrollment of 106 pupils in 2022. The two permanent classrooms (from our 2022 project) will now be complemented by the new school building.
Photos of the construction over the summer:
The original grades offered when Team Dayā built the first project in 2022 were 1st and 2nd grades – so the school has added three additional grades and the number of teachers has gone from 2 to 5. In 2023, the community worked with our NGO partner buildOn to help 19 out of school children enroll back in school. What terrific progress since the community built its first classrooms in October 2019 from sticks and straw.
We could not have done this without support from the Jeff T. Green Family Foundation, our 1,000+ donors around the world, and our full 2024 Senegal team:
Senegal Team Members
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Hasan Arik honored his father Ibrahim during the groundbreaking in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)
ARIK. Hasan “Trust & Transparency” Arik is a founding partner of Team Dayā and an alumni of multiple school builds including our 2022 Senegal project. He is CEO at Redmill Solutions in London and has worked at Mediacom and GroupM. Donate.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Jeff Green, along with his son Elijah, digs out one of two latrines that will accompany the new school building in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)
GREEN. Jeff Green is the Co-Founder and CEO of The Trade Desk, a digital advertising pioneer and one of the most successful tech companies of the 21st Century. His success as a serial entrepreneur has been based on the application of data – both understanding how data can be applied to rethink time-honored business models and processes, as well as using data to figure out where market inefficiencies exist. With the Jeff T. Green Family Foundation, Jeff and his team are bringing that same approach to understanding and addressing economic disparity. By applying data to those disparities, particularly in key formative areas such as education, the Jeff T. Green Family Foundation intends to build successful, action-oriented and repeatable programs that help remove barriers to opportunity. Donate.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā members Elijah, Jeff, Malachi and Faith Green visit the existing Team Dayā school in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal that was constructed in 2022. June 2024.)
GREEN FAMILY. Elijah, Malachi and Faith are the teenage children of Jeff Green. They accompanied their father to participate in the Team Dayā school groundbreaking in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. Donate.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Terra Ingalls arrived in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal on June 24, 2024 to a warm welcome.)
INGALLS. Terra Ingalls has 15 years of publisher/retail media, adtech, and agency experience, leading teams at WPP and Publicis/Epsilon. Her work with Team Dayā is motivated by the opportunity to set an example for her nine year old son: “I want to show him how important it is to help others when we can, and there’s no better way to teach these things to your children, than by doing it yourself.” Donate.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā member Steve Katelman (right) on the worksite in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal with fellow Team Dayā member Jay Sears (left) and the project’s head brickmaker Aliou Sy (center) in June 2024. The school construction requires 4,200 cement bricks, each made by hand.)
KATELMAN. Steve Katelman spent nearly three decades at Omnicom, most recently as the EVP of Global Strategic Partnerships for Omnicom Media Group. He focused on digital strategies and investments for many of Omnicom’s clients and launched OMG’s trading desk, Accuen, in 2008. Steve was also instrumental in the launching of Annalect in 2010, Omnicom’s Data and Analytics practice. Donate.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā Founder Jay Sears working on the site of the new school in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)
SEARS. Team Dayā Founder Jay Sears started the group in 2018 with peers from the technology and advertising industries to finance and build primary schools in developing countries. In addition to running Team Dayā and the local community news site MyRye.com in his hometown, Jay has worked at mastercard, Rubicon Project, ContextWeb, EDGAR Online and Wolff New Media. Donate.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā Paul Wyrembak (far right) during a visit with Nguiddine Keur Sara School Principal Coumba Sanou Diouf (center). The team presented Diouf with a photo book of its 2022 partnership with the community. June 2024.)
WYREMBAK. Paul Wyrembak serves as the Senior Director of Product at Symitri and the Head of Technical Operations at TRUSTX. He previously worked at PadSquad, and was Co-Founder of Dantech Systems. He is a co-worker of Team Dayā’s head of recruiting Jaryd Knutsen. Wyrembak “realized early on that hard work and determination are only minor components in the criteria that determine one’s “success.” Sometimes, it requires a display of kindness, empathy, or gratitude.” Donate.
If you have a combination of fundraising chops, an adventurous spirit and the belief each of us has the capacity to be Building Change, get in touch with us and have a conversation.
Team Dayā 2024 Plans
In 2024, we plan to build schools in Nepal (March, completed), Senegal (June 2024, completed) and Guatemala (December 2024, limited availability). These ground breakings will be our second school in each of these countries.
The exact start dates are:
Sunday, March 17, 2024 – Nepal (arrive Kathmandu) [groundbreaking completed]
Sunday, June 23, 2024 – Senegal (arrive Dakar) [groundbreaking completed]
I recently returned from Senegal, where I had the privilege of helping build Team Dayā’s seventh school. As one of the founding partners, this trip was particularly special—it marked the first time we expanded a school that has already become a cornerstone of its community, providing vital educational opportunities where they are desperately needed.
Since we first built the school in 2022, student enrollment has quadrupled, and an adult education program has flourished. The rapid growth highlighted the urgent need for expansion, ensuring that more children and adults can access the education they deserve.
Entering these communities is an overwhelming blend of joy and humility. From the moment we arrive, we are embraced by the warmth of the people, welcomed with a vibrant ceremony where community, school, and government leaders share kind words and sign a covenant in support of the new school, including a promise to make certain the school is available to both boys and girls equally.
(PHOTO: Community leaders in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal sign the covenant with their thumbprints. Team Dayā funded a second school in the community in June 2024.)(PHOTO: Team Dayā founding member Hasan Arik was invited to dance during the welcome ceremony in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)(PHOTO: Team Dayā founding member Hasan Arik signs the covenant in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)(PHOTO: Chief Khokhan Nolong of Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal with a photo book presented to him from Team Dayā during the community’s welcome ceremony. The book commemorates the community’s collaboration with Team Dayā to construct its first school building in 2022. June 2024.)
During the covenant ceremony, the literacy challenges in the community become evident. Many adults sign the document with their fingerprints, a poignant reminder of the barriers they face. Yet, this only deepens our commitment to bring about change through education.
The next day school build gets going with a little bit of warm-up exercises and explanations of how to use the basic tools that are available. It was amazing to see so much of the community was there to work and have a bit of fun whilst doing it. We all get assigned stations and get started.
(PHOTO: At the brick making station, Team Dayā members Paul Wyrembak and Hasan Arik at work in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)(PHOTO: Team Dayā members Terra Ingalls and Hasan Arik working the rebar station on the school building worksite in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)(PHOTO: Team Dayā members Paul Wyrembak, Jay Sears and Hasan Arik with the skilled bricklayers at the school building worksite in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. It takes 4,200 bricks – all made by hand – to construct the school. June 2024.)(PHOTO: Team Dayā founding member Hasan Arik mixing cement on the school building worksite in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)
The construction is guided by skilled workers, funded by Team Dayā, and organized through our partner buildOn. Together, we dig foundations, construct rebar structures for columns and trusses, and mold concrete blocks. It’s inspiring to see community members learning alongside us, acquiring new skills that will benefit them long after the school is completed.
The conditions are incredibly hot and dusty at 30-40 Celsius (95-104 F). The work is physically exhausting. The atmosphere is so captivating you don’t feel the time fly by. People are singing, dancing, joking around and loving the work.
(PHOTO: During any Team Dayā school build, dancing can breakout at any time. Hasan Arik working a cement line – and dancing – on the school building worksite in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal. June 2024.)
The work progresses really fast with dozens of people working on the site. We quickly got the foundation done for both the school and accompanying two bathrooms. Columns and walls start rising from the ground and the new school is taking shape next to the previous one we built two years earlier.
Beyond the physical work, our time is enriched by cultural exchanges and chat circles with the community. These conversations bridge our worlds, exploring topics from education and family dynamics to gender roles and culinary traditions. These moments often lead to the most profound insights and joyful connections.
We all stay with different host families during the school groundbreaking week, who very kindly give us somewhere to stay. This is yet another lovely way to interact with the community as it really allows us to get close and personal with the host family.
(PHOTO: Team Dayā members Hasan Arik (far left) and Paul Wyrembak (far right) meeting with their host family in Nguiddine Keur Sara, Senegal in June 2024. The first school constructed by Team Dayā in 2022 is visible in the background.)
They are just as curious about us as we are of them. Sharing a cup of tea, playing with the kids, talking about community life, and answering their questions about our lives becomes our daily routine. It almost feels selfish to be having this much fun.
Amidst the excitement, I find myself reflecting on my own journey. Growing up in a small Turkish town as one of eight children, I attended a primary school much like the ones we’re building here. My mother, who never learned to read or write, instilled in me the value of education. I vividly recall the day foreign students came to build a school in a nearby village—it was a turning point for me. Today, I’m driven by the belief that education is a fundamental human right, one that can transform lives just as it transformed mine
Time flies by, and saying goodbye to the community is always difficult. Yet, in true Senegalese spirit, the farewell is marked by a vibrant ceremony of music and dancing—a celebration of the bond we’ve forged and the future we’ve built together. None of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of Team Dayā and the generosity of our supporters worldwide. To each of you, I extend my deepest thanks for making this journey—and these schools—a reality.
Together, we’re not just building schools—we’re building futures and Building Change. Thank you for being part of this extraordinary journey.
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Watch Hasan talk about the importance of the school in Nguiddine Keur Sara:
If you have a combination of fundraising chops, an adventurous spirit and the belief each of us has the capacity to be Building Change, get in touch with us and have a conversation.
Team Dayā 2024 Plans
In 2024, we plan to build schools in Nepal (March), Senegal (June 2024) and Guatemala (December 2024). These ground breakings will be our second school in each of these countries.
The exact start dates are:
Sunday, March 17, 2024 – Nepal (arrive Kathmandu) [groundbreaking completed]
Sunday, June 23, 2024 – Senegal (arrive Dakar) [groundbreaking completed]
(PHOTO: Team Dayā with community members in Nguiddine Keur Sara in June 2024 during the construction of its second school in that location.)
