Yspaniola Scholars Mayra and Fede successfully finished their second semester and look forward to beginning a new term at the Universidad Tecnológica de Santiago (UTESA). In August, the scholars participated in an extracurricular activity related to leadership with organization Un Techo Para Mi País-Repbública Dominicana, constructing houses for people in need in Haina. The Yspaniola Local Team also participated in a two-day construction project with Techo in Kilombo, a community near Santo Domingo, in October. Also recently, Yspaniola and community members of Batey Libertad traveled to visit the border market of Dajabón and Ouanaminthe in Haiti to better understand Dominican and Haitian relations.
The women of the Microenterprise Artisan Project have been enjoying working together as they finish the paper maché houses. Haitian artist Paul Eligene from the capital arrives next week and will live in Batey Libertad for a month as he teaches the women how to paint designs on the houses. After the houses are completed and ready for sale, the women will learn how to make other crafts, in particular paper maché bowls, to which they can also apply their painting skills. Yspaniola completed the first cycle of the Leadership Institute and will begin the second phase in late November.
Yspaniola is working to expand the university scholarship program to benefit students in nearby batey communities and has begun to conduct research education in nearby Boca de Mao. You can contribute to providing additional scholarships for deserving students like Mayra and Fede through a donation, which will go towards university tuition and other academic expenses and supplies, while empowering the scholars as they acquire the skills and tools to become leaders and achieve their goals. Thank you for your support!
June and July were exciting months for Yspaniola, as we collaborated with several organizations to raise awareness about social justice in the Dominican Republic and help our scholars learn about development and leadership.
Yspaniola partnered with the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) to host our first conference, Puntos de Encuentro: República Dominicana y Haití, about the intersections and shared history of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. We hosted students of Dominican and Haitian descent from City College in New York through the FUNGLODE (Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo) internship program, participated in a panel as part of the 2011 Yale University-NYU Summer Institute for Educators, and collaborated with RECREAR to facilitate workshops for youth from Batey Libertad and nearby communities to identify community needs and design projects to address those needs.
Yspaniola is also proud to announce the launch of a new leadership program for young women in Batey Libertad. Through a microenterprise initiative, Yspaniola will empower young Dominican and Haitian women, who face educational and economic barriers, to work side by side and assume an active to improve their community.
Through these projects, our scholars Fede and Mayra are learning strategies for empowerment and community leadership as they continue their studies at the University. If you haven't donated to Yspaniola in a while, consider supporting our Recurring Donation Campaign through GlobalGiving. If just ten people sign up for a recurring monthly donation of $10, then we can cover the annual tuition costs for one of our university scholars!
A group of fourteen undergraduate students from Yale recently traveled to the Dominican Republic with Yspaniola to learn about international development while living with families in Batey Libertad. In the words of one student participant, "I learned so much about Haitian/Dominican relations, development, poverty tourism, community development, soccer, how to play 'quien falta.' Mostly my entire perspective on development has changed."
For a more in-depth look at the trip, review our 2011 Service-Learning Evaluation Report, available at: http://eng.yspaniola.org/about-2/documents
If you haven't donated to Yspaniola in a while, consider supporting our Recurring Donation Campaign through GlobalGiving. If just ten people sign up for a recurring monthly donation of $10, then we can cover the annual tuition costs for one of our university scholars! GlobalGiving is giving away $12,000 in bonus awards for the organizations that mobilize the most new recurring donors by March 20th.
Visit our project page here: www.globalgiving.org/projects/scholarships-for-dominican-and-haitian-youth/
Thanks for your continued support!
The Yspaniola Team
Yspaniola is excited to present our 2010 Annual Report!
Learn about our progress during our first full year as a 501c3 non-profit organization.
Report Content:
The report is attached, and also available on our newly updated website!
http://yspaniola.org/about/documents/
Links:
Yspaniola is pleased to announce our 2011 University Scholars!
After an exciting month reviewing applications and interviewing candidates, the Scholarship Selection Committee has named two highly deserving candidates from Batey Libertad to receive this year's Yspaniola scholarships.
Federico Charle graduated from high school in the Spring of 2008, with exemplary academic performance. However, without the means to pursue higher education, he began excruciating work in the rice fields to support his family. Now, with an Yspaniola scholarship, Fede will leave the rice fields behind him to study Modern Languages at the Technological University of Santiago (UTESA).
Mayra Altagracia Rodriguez Helena graduated near the top of her high school class in the Spring of 2010. She maintains a strong desire to become a school teacher, but her family's limited financial resources prevented her from continuing her education. Now, Mayra is excited to study Education at UTESA, with a focus on the natural sciences. She hopes one day to return to her community of Batey Libertad, in order to train the next generation of leaders.
Fede and Mayra will begin classes at the university in January of 2011. Through Yspaniola's program, they will have access to continual academic support, as well as a series of leadership workshops to develop their skills as community leaders for change.
Please help us to congratulate these two outstanding scholars!
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 recieve an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
