By Sarah Fisher | Administrative Director
Dear Friends,
Since September the Mariposa girls ages 15-18 have been participating in a comparative study of Dominican, Haitian, and US women role models called the Girl Workshop Series. This interactive study has included research, field trips, and workshops with some of the women they studied, including Dominican-American author Julia Alvarez and Native Americans Radmilla Cody and Mary Kim Titla.
In April the study culminated in a final event created by the Mariposa girls titled “Celebrating Our Similarities.” This event was attended by all the Mariposa girls, US Embassy representatives, members of the local community, and two of the women from the study. The event included circus and musical performances by the Mariposa girls that wowed the guests.
The main performance was a theatrical piece in which the Mariposa girls each represented one woman from the comparative study and participated in an imaginary women’s conference that unified these leaders and activists from different times and places. The featured women included Haitian activists Myriam Merlet and Sonia Pierre; Dominican activists and educators Aniana Vargas, Julia Alvarez, Mamá Tingó, Salome Ureña, Paulina Pérez, Margo Suriel and Minerva Mirabal; American activists and author Maya Angelou, Lucy Burns, Alice Paul, and Harriet Tubman; and Native Americans Anacaona, Mary Kim Titla, and Radmilla Cody.
The presentation was a combination of spoken word, poetry, music and dance. It brought together rich elements from three different countries and over 500 years of history. Creating the presentation solidified the girls’ understanding and enthusiasm of the many connections that weave the lives of these women together, as well as how the lives of these women are not so different from their own.
A powerful way to unleash the leader in a girl is to teach her the stories of the amazing women that came before her, because empowered role models lead to empowered girls! Thank you for your essential support of our girls’ education and empowerment programs.
With gratitude,
The girls, families, staff and volunteers at The Mariposa DR Foundation
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
