SEQUIM — Young Erika knew precisely what she wanted in life. Growing up in the village of Zinacantan, Mexico, the girl set out to make her desire a reality.
“She wanted an education,” her colleague Judith Pasco said recently.
Pasco, a longtime Sequim resident, veteran high school Spanish teacher and cofounder of the nonprofit Mujeres de Maiz Opportunity Foundation, then watched Erika and her mother, Teresa, run the Zinacantan children’s enrichment program.
By this time Erika had reached the ripe old age of 13 — and was helping 8- to 12-year-olds strengthen their math skills.
She taught them division. She helped them learn to multiply — and herself could calculate large numbers in her head.
“She has been a tremendous role model for the young girls,” said Pasco, “because she exudes confidence.”
Now 17, Erika is one of the young women who’ve earned a Mujeres scholarship for secondary and preparatory school in her home state of Chiapas, Mexico. She’s also one who will be celebrated at the 14th annual Mujeres de Maiz dinner and auction Saturday night.
This most important fundraiser of the year includes a homemade vegetarian Mexican feast — roasted herbed squash, savory black beans, corn bread, salad, chips and salsa, cookies — at Sequim’s Masonic Hall, 700 S. Fifth Ave.
Everyone is welcome; doors open at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and admission is a suggested $20 donation at the door.
Pasco and crew will lay out more than 60 silent auction items with holiday shopping in mind.
The art, jewelry, clothing and other gifts come from Mexico, Europe and Sequim; in the middle of October, for example, Pasco opened her mail to find a gift certificate for a two-night stay at the Dungeness Bay Cottages. It was a surprise unsolicited donation worth $350.
New to this year’s event are the mystery boxes, which contain surprise gifts worth more than their $25 price tag — such as dinner for two at Sequin’s Alder Wood Bistro.
Pasco will give a short talk about El Dia de los Muertos, aka the Day of the Dead, the Mexican celebration of deceased loved ones that happens every November. Then, with delight, she will screen a short film about how Mujeres has developed over the years. The new movie was made by her son, Eric Rust of Poulsbo.
The 2019 dinner and auction may be the last one in this format, Pasco said. Mujeres’ work in Chiapas will continue, as will the fundraising Mexican Breakfast in March and the Men with Guitars concert later in spring. But it’s time, she said, for the dinner to evolve into something else.
Pasco, 71, began Mujeres with a small group of fellow volunteers in 2006. The organization has flourished, earning top ratings from Great Nonprofits (greatnonprofits.org), appearing in the Alternative Gifts International (AlternativeGifts.org) catalog six years in a row, and forging a partnership between supporters here and the women community leaders in Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state.
Mujeres de Maiz — Spanish for women of corn, Mexico’s prime sustenance — started with one scholarship for teenager Yolanda Hernandez Gomez.
She has since gone on to college, while the foundation has grown the number of scholarship students to 19.
The girls and women are required to stay involved in their communities by teaching workshops and, like Erika does, by helping run the seven weekly children’s programs in the villages around San Cristobal de las Casas.
Pasco’s vision has always been about supporting education for women and girls because, she has said, they use their power to transform whole communities.
The scholarshipped students study English, computer science, nursing, law and tourism — all toward sustaining their families and their homeland.
When a community such as Zinacantan lifts itself up through education, Pasco said, its residents want to stay and build on this success. They don’t choose to follow some of their former neighbors who have immigrated to the United States.
Mari Aguilar is a classic example of a woman with grit. She was in her late 20s — with no previous schooling — when she received a Mujeres scholarship in 2008. She began with adult primary school, and went on through adult secondary and adult preparatory. Then she started university in Comitan.
But Aguilar had to drop out to take care of her mother. Determined to start again, she found a two-year computer science course and fit it into her life.
Thus Aguilar persisted for a decade. Now close to 40, she sent a letter to Mujeres earlier this year.
“I have now concluded my computer science studies and I feel very content about having finished,” she wrote.
“It will help me with my work, both personally and in my community. I thank all of you infinitely with my heart … I recognize that the work you do is done with both a lot of heart as well as with a lot of effort.”
For more about the scholarship recipients and other programs, see MujeresdeMaizOF.org or write to Mujeres de Maiz Opportunity Foundation, P.O. Box 1954, Sequim, WA 98382.
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Diane Urbani de la Paz, a former features editor for the Peninsula Daily News, is a freelance writer living in Port Townsend.
Eleven of the 19 Mujeres de Maiz Opportunity Foundation scholarship students gather for a photo where they live near San Cristobal de la Casas, Mexico. (Mujeres de Maiz Opportunity Foundation)
