Daraja

Daraja is the Swahili translation for bridge. To most of you, that means nothing. But i will tell you why, to me, it means so much.

The Daraja Children's Choir of Africa is a group made up from Ugandan and Kenyan children whose ages range from about 8 years of age to 12 (ish) years of age. They travel the United States on a seven month tour and perform at churches all across the country. Wow, right? These young children leave their homes, their families, their communities, to come to an entirely different country.

Why? Because through this organization, they are able to receive leadership training and gain amazing experiences that they can take back with them and become little world-changers in their communities.

As they travel, they stay in the homes of families that attend the churches at which they perform, and my family has had the privilege of hosting the past two of the three years that they have come to Oak Bridge. With this experience of getting to know them personally for a few days, although they are here to be taught, they do the real teaching. At least, in my opinion.

They are FILLED with joy. They are thankful for everything and their thankfulness is reflected in everything they do. And I mean everything.

Getting to know them personally, I learned this past weekend from Rickin and Catherine both want to be nurses when they grow up. In America, that's a common and attainable dream. However for those two Ugandan girls, it would be a lot harder to attain. We have all kinds of opportunity here, but over there at their schools, there can be up to SIX students sharing a textbook. Not even to mention their teacher to student ratio. (Way too many students and not nearly enough teachers!!)

That's where Daraja and the 410 Bridge come in. The 410 Bridge is a sponsorship program, among other great things, but they created Daraja to be the "bridge" between East Africa and America.

When the precious Daraja children are here, they have the opportunity to be sponsored along with hundreds of other children in other places, including Haiti, through the 410 Bridge.

Daraja is the reason behind my desire to go to Africa one day, and I also want to be apart of the Daraja internship program and travel with the choir.

We talk about injustices in this class, but we have to do more than just talk about them. If we really want to make a difference, we have to do something about it. I believe that Daraja and the 410 Bridge are really making a difference in the lives of people world-wide. They provide opportunity and resources for those who otherwise wouldn't have many of either of those things.