My Nonprofit Reviews

I fell in love with the idea behind Starfish One by One: making a difference one person at a time by educating adolescent girls. Starfish targets the most at risk and deprived individuals: rural Mayan adolescent girls who, without the help of scholarships, peer support, and mentor support, would not be able to finish jr high - high school. These very girls ALSO have more potential than anyone else in their communities to bring lasting, positive change. By getting an education, they will marry later, have fewer children, and invest their added income into their communities. A persistent effort in this direction has the potential to heal the whole culture of its most damaging problems, all of which stem from oppression and poverty. The most distinguishing aspect of Starfish One by One's program, though, is the centrality of the Starfish Mentors, who are all rural Mayan women (except for one male mentor who works with Starfish's groups of boys- boys are less at risk thangirls, but still marginalized and oppressed). The Mentors are college educated, and yet have overcome the same obstacles that Starfish students face. They speak the same dialect as their Mayan students. They guide the youngsters through their education step by step, working with them in froups of 15 at least once a week outside of the regular classroom. I met these Mentors. They are multilingual, passionate, energetic, unbelievably organized and utterly devoted to providing leadership and support to each student. I'm completely convinced of the power of this program. I had to resign as their art director because of the demands of being a mother, but if not for that I would continue to work for Starfish on a volunteer basis. I hope to have the privelege of being useful to these wonderful people again someday. I visited some of the Starfish students this past January, and saw for myself what the girls are up against, as well as the tremendous hope and energy they experience as Starfish scholarship students. These girls would do anything to finish school. It is their hope, for their own futures and for their families. I met the young woman who I have the honor of sponsoring; her name is Dolores. In Mayan families girls like Dolores are expected to take care of younger siblings (she is one of 7 or 8 children) and do household chores; that is why most girls are not allowed to continue to go to school past 6th grade. Dolores keeps up all her household chores, and studies after she has finished. It is a long day. Dolores, like all the other girls I met, also has a long walk to a pick-up spot where she rides in the back of a truck to school. Going to school for these girls is a sacrifice and a hardship. But they want it , desperately. Another young woman, Jeronima, is 20 (many girls must interrupt their studies to help aging or sick parents or siblings)and is finishing her high school degree. Since she is the only person in her village who speaks Spanish, she has begun to advocate on behalf of her village for better roads, better access. She is going to be an agent of change in her community. These girls are going to change their world. This is how they will rise, on their own, out of the poverty and marginalization that has been inflicted on them by corrupt, cruel governments for generations.

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