90: Ujima

The Ujima Project was a major initiative in community service and activism at Dalton from 2003 and 2010. Fundraising efforts raised more than $100,000 for the Subukia Scholarship Fund, and provided four years of high school for more than 100 Kenyans.

The Ujima Project was a major global initiative in community service and activism at Dalton, with its peak years occurring between 2003 and 2010. Ujima is a Swahili word meaning “living and working for one another.”

We drew inspiration from the famed Kenyan freedom activist Koigi wa Wamwere and we worked directly with Koigi, a former Dalton parent and former Member of Parliament in Kenya. The High School Ujima Club (Founders: Courtney Finerty ’05 and Katherine Finerty ’07), the First Program and Middle School Human Rights Clubs, and many other elements of the Dalton community combined for seven remarkable years to work shoulder-to-shoulder with educators and students in Kenya.

Our collective goals were to foster understanding and mutual growth, and to ensure that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds in Kenya had the opportunities and education they deserve. Assemblies, Walkathons, greeting cards, penpal letters, photography exhibits, calendars, videos, and a visit to the Subukia District were all elements in the vibrant fabric of our collaboration with our friends and colleagues in Kenya.

The Dalton community raised more than $100,000 for the Subukia Scholarship Fund. These funds provided more than 100 young Kenyans with a full four years of high school education, an education they would otherwise have not have access to in Kenya. Several scholarship students went on to further success at the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg and at institutes of higher learning in Kenya. UJIMA is among Dalton’s proudest service achievements, profoundly affecting so many lives in the Subukia district and in New York City.
—Malcolm Fenton, Ph.D, Science Teacher