Project Description

Dream Weavers is a student-run organization founded by my peers and I at Columbia officially this year. The initial founder was Kai Zhang, and the current Presidents are Alba Mota and Taylor Ramsey. I am an Executive Board member. Dream Weavers have a relationship with the Asociacion Adimat, a woman’s crafts cooperative in San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala, whom our program focuses on currently. Our mission is two-fold: find sustainable markets for the women’s woven goods at fair-trade prices, and create free local after-school programs where students can earn scholarships to pay for their everyday schooling tuition. The two missions relate because in the small village, the weaving women are the mothers of the school children, and helping to support both the children and the mothers lightens the burden on the entire family. The money for the programs comes from our grant-writing and donations. Though we have plans to expand our program to other towns and even countries, we are starting small and perfecting our program in San Juan before working on expanding.

This year I hope to gain official recognition for Dream Weavers on Columbia’s campus. I also wish to raise $2000, which will provide educational scholarships for one-year for all of the children (ages 4-18) currently enrolled in our after-school program in San Juan La Laguna, who could otherwise not afford to attend any type of school. This amount will also provide a small salary for our after-school program local volunteer tutors. We also wish to start up a website to sell the women’s woven goods online.

Project Description

Francisca Ortiz, a 22 year old frail and worried mother, lives in Guatemala
with her four children on less than $2 a day. Since she has insufficient economic opportunity, Francisca cannot provide food, clothing, healthcare, or education for her children. I wanted to implement an effective project to help mothers like Francisca and their children, in Guatemala. At my school, we previously fundraised for charities only through bake sales and food sales. I needed to and wanted to do much more.

Last year I introduced to my school an online viral fundraising strategy focused on microloans. Microloans are given to poor women to start businesses, such as coffee farming. Last year I introduced to my school an online viral fundraising strategy focused on microloans. Over the past year, I have seen the power of microloans. Microloans are very small loans (such as $50 to $100), not just temporary support “band-aids,” given to poor women to start businesses, such as coffee farming. Microloans can transform Francisca Ortiz’s life out of poverty.

After talking with our community service director and gaining the support of our Head of School, I formed a partnership between a leading international nonprofit organization, Project Concern International, and my school. Thus, the Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life) microloan project was born.

After I spent numerous hours developing Project Concern’s online fundraising strategy and website, as well as content for its pages, we finally launched the microloan fundraising site. Then I began demonstrating the effectiveness of online viral fundraising. I taught students how to personally develop their own fundraising websites and send out emails linking back to their sites. Yet, I also organize traditional offline fundraisers for my microloan project, such as bake sales and a middle school-led ice cream sale. In just two months, I have made great progress toward reaching my fundraising goal of $30,000. I had raised $4000.

The current success of my project, rather than in numbers, can be demonstrated through a story of one of its beneficiaries. Maria Perez is a success story of the Amigos Para Siempre project I have developed. This woman coffee grower received a microloan from Project Concern. With this loan she bought fertilizer for her coffee crops and received agricultural training from Project Concern’s staff. She received a successful harvest and sold her crops for a fair price. After paying back her loan, she had money left over and bought a sewing machine. Now she makes dresses for her local community and receives an even greater amount of money to sufficiently support her children through education, healthcare, and food.

In addition, another major component of the Amigos Para Siempre project is education. Sonia Nazario, a Pulitzer Prize winning author and Los Angeles Times Reporter, spoke at our school about the consequences of poverty for poor women in Latin America and gave my microfinance project her support. I introduced my project and explained the devastating poverty in Guatemala to the whole upperschool, as well as many parents.

Also, I taught 5th and 6th graders about poverty, Guatemala, Project Concern International, and the effectiveness of microfinance loans. In order to demonstrate what exactly a microfinance loan is, I gave Monopoly money to students to represent these small loans. The children were told that with this money they could start a business in a third-world country; then, they passed the money to other students, giving them a similar opportunity. Students eagerly proposed different ways to raise money for the project, such as doing chores at home, as well as donating their weekly allowance money. After hearing my presentations, two 11 year old girls proudly dropped off a jar with $14.35 for microloans; a few weeks later, the girls dropped off $55 for microloans.

My project continues. I am planning on expanding the educational campaign to speak to 9th grade students, as well as local organizations. Moreover, I am working with underclassmen to ensure that this project flourishes, well after I graduate. In a few months, I will travel to Guatemala and personally meet the microloan beneficiaries, mothers such as Francisca.

Project Description

My team of fourteen raised money over a period of a five months to travel to Guatemala to aid their physical and emotional needs. We held garage sales, sold a donation of nuts and worked to meet our goals. We traveled to Campur, a small village eight hours from Guatemala City to visit four schools and provided them with toys, sports equipment, crayons, and paper to enrich their education. We then split up into smaller groups and visited homes of families that needed support. Through translators we were able to listen to the stories of different families and connect with them. I was amazed at their stregnth and courage! After two days at Campur we left to go to Guatemala City. At Guatemala City we visited a hospital and greeted the people who did not have visitors and gave them fruit juice and toilet paper. Even the basic necessity of toilet paper is not given to patients in the hospital! They can only recieve neccesities through friends and families who bring it. We also visited an orphanage, Momentos Preciosos where we sang songs and played with the kids, giving them the rest of the donations. The woman who began Momentos Preciosos, we later found out, was behind in rent by three months and was going to lose the building soon. A leader from our team paid the debt and today we are still working on donations to keep the orphanage running, which is constantly growing. Later, we also visited an AIDS/HIV positive hospice where we played with the kids and ate lunch with them, which we provided. It was devastating to see these innocent kids whose lives would inevitably end from this global problem. Finally, we gave sandwiches and hugs to adolesents who raised themselves on the streets of Guatemala City from ages as early as seven. After listening to their stories, I realized that it wasn't their fault or a mistake that they made that got them in their situation. I am truely lucky to have the oportunities I have in the United States, and I hope someday to go back there.

Project Description

Thesis: Genocides in Modern Times.
Nazi Holocaust

1. History: Nazi Holocaust
2. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do to stop this?
3. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do during this?
4. Long Term Effects: The Middle East today
5. Long Term Effects: Did we learn anything?

Guatemalan Civil War

1. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do to stop this?
2. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do during this?
3. Long Term Effects: The drug wars
4. Long Term Effects: U.S./western policy in S. America

Khmer Rouge

1. History: Khmer Rouge
2. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do to stop this?
3. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do during this?
4. Long Term Effects: Asia
5. Long Term Effects: Did this effect the fall of communism?

Rwanda Genocide

1. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do to stop this?
2. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do during this?
3. Long Term Effects: African Society
4. Long Term Effects: Did this influence Darfur? If so, how?

Darfur Conflict

1. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do to stop this?
2. Reactions: What did the U.S./western society do during this?

What leads to a holocaust?
What can we do to prevent a holocaust?
Summary

Project Description

Mercado Global is a non-profit fair trade organization that links the world’s most rural and economically-disadvantaged cooperatives to the U.S. market through a model that provides both fair wages and investments in each community’s long-term development.

 

We work with women’s artisan cooperatives in Latin America, helping them to develop and produce beautiful, all-natural handmade products. Our primary product lines include: organic, naturally dyed cotton products, eco-friendly ceramics, and all-natural jewelry. We market these product lines through our online store www.mercadoglobal.org/shop and through our Fair Trade Sourcing Program, which targets large retailers and other distributors.

 

All our sales provide women with fair wages, and 100% of profits return to our partner cooperatives to fund scholarship programs, school construction, and other local development projects.