SEQUIM — The seventh year has been especially
fruitful for the Mujeres de Maiz Opportunity Foundation, a nonprofit
group connecting Sequim with the Mayan women of Mexico.
And in
the spirit of El Día de los Muertos, that quintessentially Mexican
celebration, Mujeres is inviting Sequim and the surrounding community to
a party this Saturday night.
There will, of course, be abundant
food: a vegetarian Mexican dinner cooked by Molly Rivard and her fellow
Mujeres de Maiz supporters at the Sequim Prairie Grange, 290 Macleay
Road.
The evening's festivities, to start at 5:30 p.m., will
include a special compilation of Mexican background music, a short video
from the Mayan communities of Chiapas state and auction bidding on
gifts from near and far.
“If you're going to the [Port Angeles]
Symphony” at 7:30 p.m. at the Port Angeles High School auditorium,
Mujeres co-founder Judith Pasco noted, “you can still come and have
dinner” and make it to the concert on time.
Tickets will be
available only at the door for a suggested donation of $20, with
proceeds going toward Mujeres' programs for girls and young women in
Chiapas, Mexico's southernmost and poorest state.
“We've got such gorgeous stuff at the auction. Every year, I think it can't get any better, and then it does,” said Pasco.
Unique holiday gifts
The event is a holiday shopper's heaven, she said, adding that the dozens of items come from around North America.
There are weavings, clothing, Christmas ornaments and ceramics from southern Mexico.
And, Pasco marveled, two new snowboards have been donated by Mervin Manufacturing in Carlsborg.
Pasco
and the Mujeres de Maiz board of directors gathered these gifts for the
yearly El Día de los Muertos dinner, which is also a time when Mujeres'
mission is explained.
Pasco and her small group of
Washingtonians named their organization in honor of the Mexican women
Pasco had gotten to know during her travels in rural Chiapas.
Women of the corn
The women, who speak both Spanish and the indigenous Mayan language,
call themselves Mujeres de Maiz en Resistencia — women of corn, in
resistance.
The words evoke their lives.
Corn is the
staple food of Mexico; the women seek to strengthen their local
communities. And they resist the oppression, personal and political,
that plagues their country.
In 2006, the Mujeres de Maiz
Opportunity Foundation set out to raise money for one scholarship for
Yolanda Hernandez Gomez, then a teenager who hoped to study English in
college.
And through the annual El Día de los Muertos dinner and
many other fundraisers, the foundation has raised more than Pasco ever
dreamed.
Nineteen girls and young women are now attending secondary school and college thanks to Mujeres scholarships.
Mujeres
recently received a top rating from GreatNonprofits
(www.Greatnonprofits.org) and is included, for the fourth consecutive
year, in the Alternative Gifts International catalog
(www.AlternativeGifts.org).
Mujeres also provides support for
Saturday enrichment programs for elementary school-age children in rural
Chiapas. And last August, 16 girls and women received much-needed
eyeglasses thanks to Mujeres.
Gomez, who's known as Yoli, is about to graduate from college in San Cristóbal, Chiapas, this winter.
She'll
give a short testimonial in the video to be shown after the Mujeres'
dinner Saturday evening — in English, the subject in which she will soon
have her degree.
Yoli hopes to return to her home town of Zinacantán to teach English, Pasco said.
Yoli's older sister, Juana, also was awarded a scholarship from Mujeres and is finishing a degree in computer science.
She's already teaching computer classes to children in her home village.
The Mujeres foundation seeks to support women and girls as they pursue any level of education, Pasco added.
And
as they expand their skills with computers, English and business
management, she said, the women return to their own communities to share
that knowledge.
Where to find more
Mujeres
publishes a newsletter, maintains a website and offers presentations on
its work to local organizations. Pasco and the foundation can be reached
via www.MujeresdeMaizOF.org, by emailing mujeres@olypen.com or by phoning 360-683-8979.
But
the best way to learn about Mujeres and the women of Chiapas, Pasco
said, is to come enjoy the Mexican food, music and handicrafts Saturday.
There will be tortilla soup with guacamole, salsa, cheese and
chips; salad with lime and cilantro dressing and the pièce de
résistance, homemade Mexican wedding cookies.
Pasco's gratitude
to those who participate in the event, be they cooks, auction donors or
dinner guests, has grown steadily over the years.
“My favorite thing about the dinner is being able to greet and talk to our supporters,” she added, “and thank them in person.”
From：http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/
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