Race for Daraja 2012

San Francisco, California & Nanyuki, Kenya

Welcome to our team fundraising page! Bennett and I will be running in this one hundred and one year old event, in support of the Daraja Academy of Kenya and the Carr Educational Foundation. Our Team Fatuma M. will be part of much larger team of individuals, all of us passionate about supporting the Daraja Academy and these special girls.  Last year I had the pleasure of running this same event in Kenya, alongside Fatuma, all 7+ miles. 

The Daraja Academy is a private, all-girls secondary school in Kenya, providing impoverished young women with a free four-year scholarship. These girls would otherwise have no alternate means of attending high school, considering the high relative cost of education, in conjunction with disparate standards of living. http://daraja-academy.org/

My family sponsors Fatuma M.  She is from a small norther town called Merti, infamous for its drought like conditions and often violent tribal conflicts.  Bennett and I had the recent privilege of living in Kenya and getting to not only meet Fatuma, but to really know and love her. She is an amazing individual - she is a talented actress and student and is always displaying one of the most beautiful smiles you have ever seen. She is also an excellent yoga student/teacher, much more flexible than myself.  

I cannot stress enough that this is an amazing school. I did my thesis research here for nearly a year and was continually wowed by the drive of these girls who capitalize on every opportunity presented to them.  Daraja affords them a tremendous support system and an environment that fosters their talents and allows them to express themselves without restrictions. The girls not only are taught to their final culminating exam, but instructed in life skills and how to to live within and encourage equitable systems.

Bennett and I think of Fatuma as of part of our family and it is important to us that our family member gets the support she deserves.

- Maria & Bennett