GAFE Meet & Greet: Friday 5PM - 7PM - Renew old acquaintances and meet new people. Soft drinks and light snacks will be served.

 

BINGO  6:30 PM – 8:00 PM  Come join us for a lively game of Bingo.  Suitable for all ages and prizes for everyone.

 

 Welcome the Jewish Sabbath - Friday 7PM - ? - We invite GAFE participants to join us in welcoming the Jewish Sabbath. We'll recite the Shabbat blessings in Hebrew, Spanish and English, sing some songs, and get to know each other.

 

Friday Night at the Movies  -  "Voice of a  Mountain"  Voice of a Mountain is a video documentary of the lives of rural Guatemalan coffee farmers who took up arms against their government in a civil war that lasted 36 years. This documentary explores Guatemala's dark history from the perspective of those who saw armed revolution as their only hope for change in a poverty-ridden nation under years of military dictatorship. Ex-combatants talk about the bleak reality of the country that led to their involvement in the war, and the response of genocide from the Guatemalan government against its people. The documentary gives insight into their motives for joining an armed conflict as interviews reveal personal accounts of struggle, hope, tragedy, and the fruits of their resistance.

 

Saturday Adult Activities

 

Talking with children about Adoption  --  How to talk to children about adoption from ages 1-7:  Speaker Joni S. Mantell, LCSW, Director of the Infertility and Adoption Counseling Center  will discuss different techniques and methods to use when talking with young children about adoption and she will also explore what your child can understand at these early ages, how to help answer your child's earliest questions about adoption, and how to create a safe, open family atmosphere in which adoption can be discussed.

 

Adoption and the Tween and Teen Years:  Speaker Joni S. Mantell, LCSW, Director of the Infertility and Adoption Counseling Center  will discuss issues that are hard for Tween and Teen to put into words and ideas about how to explore these issues with your child.  How to help your Tween/Teen answer questions about adoption, and deal with peer or school issues. How to keep family communication about adoption open and safe and looking at issues of self-esteem, self awareness, physical and personality differences.

Mayan Families   -   This workshop lead by Sharon Smart-Poage will discuss the work of Mayan Families which is a small non-profit group operating in the Highlands of Guatemala. Sharon and her family live and work in the Lake Atitlan region. Mayan Families works with the  indigenous people of the Lake Atitlan area, through education, community programs and construction.  http://www.mayanfamilies.org

 

What happened in Guatemala and what does it mean to the adoptive community? - The allegations of corruption in Guatemalan adoptions will undoubtedly have an impact on all families grown through Guatemalan adoption. Through a short presentation and frank discussion, Guatadopt.com's Keven Kreutner leads a session to help parents understand the realities of what happened in Guatemala and how we parents can develop techniques to help ourselves, and our children, come to terms with the legacy of adoption from Guatemala.

 

 

Guatemalan Student Support Group (GSSG), a non-denominational, IRS Section 501(c)(3) charity, incorporated in the State of North Carolina.  The sole purpose of the non-profit is to educate impoverished young Guatemalans to standards not available to them in Guatemala as a means of bringing about social and economic development in Guatemala. GSSG’s program to accomplish its objective consists of three phases. In Phase 1 GSSG partners with AIFS/AYA (a student-exchange program) to bring selected youngsters to the United States on a J-1 (exchange) Visa in early June to live as practical members of American families to improve their English by immersion and non-credit classes in ESL (usually offered by community colleges, high schools, Hispanic centers, churches, and literacy centers). When school starts in the fall, they register, usually, as freshmen. When school is out in late May or early June, they return to Guatemala. Those who have succeeded academically and comported themselves well in Phase 1 come back to the United States on an F-1 (student) Visa for Phase 2, their sophomore, junior, and senior years, with a view toward graduation. The students return to Guatemala every summer to maintain their family and cultural ties. Phase 3 is college. During Phase 3 participants may live on or off campus. Again, they return to Guatemala every summer. GSSG is looking for hosts families for students for the 2010-2011 school year.  Both students and families are prepared well in advance.  If you are interested now or are interested in learning about the possibility of hosting a student from Guatemala, please join John Bodoh as he discusses the program both here in the United States and in Guatemala.  

 

 

The Rio Negro Memorial Textile is a collaborative project between The Advocacy Project and weavers from the resettlement village of Pacux in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, who were displaced by the construction of Chixoy Dam in the early 1980s. As the Chixoy Dam and Pueblo Viejo Hydroelectric Facility were being built, genocidal attacks on indigenous communities in the Chixoy River Basin took place during the worst years of the internal conflict in Guatemala. All of the weavers involved in the textile project are massacre survivors themselves or children of survivors. The Quilt will be on display at GAFE and a workshop provided by The Advocacy Project so that we can learn about the history behind this quilt and the lives of the fifteen weavers that created the textiles.

Visit http://www.advocacynet.org/page/adivimaprofiles

 

Nurturing Contact with First Families in International Adoption  -- A panel discussion on contact with Foster Families, Birth Families and Extended Families. This forum will explore reasons for initiating contact, ways to initiate and maintain contact, and how relationships with First Families have developed and grown over time.  There will be time for discussion, including questions and answers, based on the families’ experience with Birth, Foster, and Extended Family Contact.

 

Birth Family Searches and information on options for searches in Guatemala  -  Attorney Luis Aragon  who works with Bio Family Trace in Guatemala will speak about their program to search for and locate Birth Families in Guatemala.  They also provide services for meeting with the Family once the search is completed. 

 

Marimba Player  - Grupo Cajola

 

Incorporating Birth Culture into Daily Families' Lives  - Lee Walzer will present a workshop on ways to incorporate your child’s Birth Culture into your daily life.   

 

Cooking Class  –  Grupo de  Cajola  --  Learn some authentic Guatemalan cooking. 

 

Pueblo a Pueblo   -  This workshop will discuss the work of a small non-profit based in Washington DC which is supporting programs in health and education in the Lake Atitlan area with the T’zutujil Maya.  Located on the shores of Lake Atitlán, this community of more than 40,000 indigenous Maya suffered some of the worst mudslides as a result of Hurricane Stan. http://www.puebloapueblo.org/

 

Rural Guatemalan Life  –  Gregory and Anita Giagnocavo, from Hands of Hope will speak about rural village live and  rural indigenous customs in Guatemala.  

 

Hands of Hope  –  Gregory and Anita Giagnocavo, from Hands of Hope will speak about their experience of starting and operating a mobile medical clinic to the rural poor in Guatemala and then building a free standing medical center. http://www.hands-of-hope.com

 

Mayan History and Culture - Grupo de  Cajola –  will talk with us about the Mayan History and Culture.

 

Common Hope -- Shari Blindt, the executive director and mother of two children adopted from Guatemala will provide a presentation about Common Hope and their mission and how they work within Guatemala.  http://www.commonhope.org/

 

Confronting Racism  - Andrea Quatrale, Past President of LAP, and Joan Giurdanella, Past President of LAPA and mom to a teen adopted from Mexico and a daughter adopted from Bolivia, will present a workshop on coping with racism. http://www.lapa.com.

 

Alfombras Workshop   – A joint workshop for parents and children.  Alfombras (or carpets) are created for processions to walk upon during Semana Santa.  This workshop will include a movie about Alfombras and a presentation on how to make the alfombras.  Children should be 8 or older and will need to have a parent with them.

 

Giant Kite Workshop  –  A joint workshop for parents and children.  This workshop will introduce participants  to the Guatemala tradition of making giant kites.  Giant Kites are an element of Day of the Dead observances in two highland villages north of Antigua.  We will learn about the cultural significance of this Mayan tradition and participates will join  in making a large kite. Children should be 8 or older and will need to have a parent with them.