KU News Release

KU student group plans event to raise funds for Haitian girls dormitory

LAWRENCE — Latin American Solidarity, a student group at the University of Kansas, will host two events this week.

On Tuesday, Feb. 27, the group will host the Haitian Girl Project, co-sponsored with the Honors Student Council. A banquet will raise money to build a new girls dormitory at the La Maison Fortune Orphanage in Hinche, Haiti. The banquet will take place at 6 p.m. at Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread Ave.

Haitian law makes it illegal for males and females to live together in public housing, which makes it difficult for girls to attend school. Under current conditions, girls attend school but have no place to eat or live, forcing them to live on the streets after school.

The event will feature Haitian cuisine and cultural activities, music and dancing. The event is free to the public, but donations will go toward the building of the dormitory.

Latin American Solidarity is also sponsoring a lecture by Onesimo Hidalgo, co-director of the Center for Economic and Political Research for Community Action in Chiapas, Mexico. The lecture, “After the Uprising: The Ongoing Effects of NAFTA and ‘NAFTA Plus’ on Women and Others in Chiapas,” will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, in 3139 Wescoe Hall.

Hidalgo will discuss the continuous effects of NAFTA in the post-Zapastista atmosphere in Chiapas. He will also discuss the effect of NAFTA Plus in Chiapas and the involvement of women in Chiapas under NAFTA’s effects.

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