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The main focus of this program is to teach tools of community empowerment through workshops of cultural and racial identity, migration and technology in order to explore new racial and gender identities as well as new forms of citizenship.  From a local perspective, but also taking into account the global community, the main objective is to work with visual and electronic tools so that the workshop participants can develop their own technical knowledge and self-expression and apply these skills to the needs of their community and the exercise of rights.  Following Melassa's general objectives, this is a way of rescuing the cultural memory of Latin@s in order to promote their political participation locally and across borders.  Under the Program of Cultural Exchange, and with the participation of international students in some of these workshops, Melassa also hopes to promote the transnational organization of Latin@s.

Collaboration Project with the Mata Los Indios community in Villa Mella

Along with the Program of Research and Visual Documentation, the collaboration proyect consisted in producing an advocacy video-documentary regarding the African influence from the Congo region in the community of Mata Los Indios with the goal of establishing a dialogue about Black identity in the Dominican Republic and the relationship between identity and economic marginalization.  Part of the collaboration includes the implementation of Workshops described below oriented to the members of the community.
 

1) Library Workshop

Primera fase (Noviembre, 2003):

In November of 2003, FLACSO (Latin American Social Sciences University) librarian Rosina Anglada facilitated a workshop to the teachers of the school and several residents of the community explaining how a library worked and the resources available in it as well as suggesting projects for classroom development.

Jemise Ray, a Melassa intern explained about how books are filed in  the database,  which will soon be installed in the computer lab at the school. Rosina did a activity with the teachers and members of the community in which she gave each one a card with library numeration and the book list stand in the library. They search them and then they say their location.

The library at the primary school of Mata de los Indios was donated by Fundación Melassa and Librería Cuesta. The library comprises 600 books (in english and spanish) with diverse themes from the Dominican Republic, Latinoamerica, the Caribbean, and the U.S. Mostly, the library contains Social Science books that are available to  the exchange students that volunteer for the Project, the residents of the Mata de los Indios Community and the children and teachers of the school.

Phase 2 (January - March, 2004)

During the months of January through May, four students of CIEE (Council of International Exchange) are developing some educational projects in the library with the objective of familiarizing the students with its materials. This week, the fifth graders began reading a poem written by Pedro Mir. Then, they made some drawings based in different phrases that they chose. Rosalina Minier, member of the Mata de los Indios Community, graduated from the same school, is currently in charge of the library under the supervision of Karin Weyland who is the Director of the Melassa Foundation and Nikina Martinez, General Assistant of Melassa.

Phase 3 (April, 2004)

The Melassa Foundation along with the Mata de los Indios Primary School organized a Reading Competition to finish the phase 3 of the Library Project at that school.  Melassa interns who were working with the students in that project created a lottery in order to choose three students from each grade.  To evaluate the students during the competition, they were divided in two big groups.  In the first group were the students from Fifth grade (5th) and Sixth grade (6th) and the second group were the students from Seventh (7th) and Eighth (8th)  grades, a total of 33 students.

2) Theater Workshop (August 2003-May, 2004)

Domingo Duluc did two theatre workshops  that affirmed the talent of the participants in "The Tradition of the Holy Spirit" play, since August, 2003  to February, 2004. This play was presented in the national tour of the video documentary "Congo pa' ti".

Since March, Karin Weyland, Director of the Melassa Foundation, diricted the group of youth.

3) Fuzion Dance and Hip Hop Workshop (February-March 2002):

Under the coordination of Tené Howard, a graduate student in International Education and Community Organizing from the Columbia University, Melassa organized its first hybrid dance workshop in Mata Los Indios combining Hip Hop with Afro-Dominican dances (salve, Pri-pri, Congo and Palos). Tené, a black woman from North American (U.S) of Guyanese descent is an excellent dancer and choreographer who worked on a similar project in South Africa. The workshop's original idea comes out from the need to explore a black identity from a global perspective and to raise consciousness about the preservation of local culture. Similar to other external influences, Reggae and Rap have permeated more traditional forms of music and dance to create a language of empowerment and liberation. Mata Los Indios is not exempt from these external influences since “reggaeton” can be heard and danced on many a corner and grocery stores within the community nonetheless, few people are familiar with its origins or relate this type of cultural expression with the marginalization of black and Latin@ communities in the United States. Exploring this aspect of Hip Hop at the same time the workshop participants learned how to use video cameras opened the door to self-representation. As a result, the Dance Fusion Workshop created a space for empowerment where Hip Hop and Afro-Dominican dances were mutually enriched.

The participants of the workshop performed the choreographies they had put together on the Community Day Celebration, March 23, 2002, attracting people from the community and from outside the community, including the Dominican press, The Listin Diario.  After the event, the French Alliance and Rhythms for Dance invited the group to participate in a Hip Hop Workshop with the Ballet Company Choream from France, and went to see Choream's only performance in Santo Domingo at the National Theatre.  Rhythms for Dance also invited the group to see their annual performance at the Performing Arts Palace on June 23rd, 2002; another Hip Hop local group from Herrera, Santo Domingo capital, participated in this event.

4) Documentation Workshop (February-September 2002):

The Documentation Workshop started along with the Hip Hop Workshop in coordination with Karin Weyland who taught the participants how to use the video and photographic cameras in order to begin documenting their community.  Exploring issues of racial and cultural identity, the participants have interviewed different members of the community and other people who have worked in this community in the past in order to identify the origins of the Brotherhood of the Congos of the Holy Spirit and the cultural and socio-economic context in which the community emerged.  With the arrival of the International Delegation, the participants had the opportunity to do the interviews and discuss the cultural richness of their community with international students.  Included in the Delegation's program, Leo Silverio, a documentarian who graduated from the UASD, Santo Domingo University, gave a talk to the group about professional ethics and the manipulation of the image.  During the month of April, Elizabeth Press, a Fulbright student showed the video she is producing with a group of youth in the community of Limón.  After completing many interviews and documenting many of the community festivities and daily life, the participants of the Workshop are currently selecting the material for the final version of the documentary and learning how to use the editing programs in the computer.  Decisions as to the editing of the video are being discussed from the perspective of how they want to represent their community, and what story they want to tell to other people about the historical and socio-cultural origins of Mata Los Indios.   In this Workshop, the participants are also learning how to do Web Pages and post the documented material in the Internet.

5) Photo Collage and Painting Workshop (March 2002):

While the International Delegation was here, Melassa invited local artist Cecilia Casamajor to give a Photo Collage and Painting workshop in order to complete five photo murals with the images that the participants of the Documentation Workshop had taken of their community.  The idea behind this workshop was that the girls had the opportunity to address different forms of visual representation.  In preparation for the production of the video-documentary, this workshop gave them the tools over decision-making when it comes to issues of representation.  The participants, along with the international students, chose how to place the photographs, how to cut them, glue them, and paint them with color ink.  They also chose the text that today accompanies the photo murals which are being exhibited at the Brotherhood of the Congos of the Holy Spirit Museum.  The text are excerpts they took from the interviews they completed with the members of the community.

6) "Latinos in the Era of Globalization: Migration, Culture and Identity" Course-Workshop
(April 30th-June 12th, 2002):

In collaboration with FLACSO, Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, in Santo Domingo, Karin Weyland teaches a course-workshop about globalization, migration, Latinidad, and culture.  We have the participation of professionals in this area, as well as local and international university students, people who work in community organizations, and teachers from the Mata Los Indios School.

This type of exchange is a great opportunity to explore how the Congos culture is part of the national dominican identity from the perspective of the community as well as from the outside.  By the end of the workshop, participants would be ready to transfer the knowledge learned at FLACSO back to their communities, and organize similar workshops addressing issues of identity, culture, migration, and the new technologies.  Along with the participants of the Documentation Workshop, a group could be created to give such workshops in Mata Los Indios in particular with regards to the use of computers, Internet navegation, uses of video and photographic cameras, and other workshops that promote discussion of issues of identity and the place that the Congos occupy in the social Dominican imaginary and in the global community.

Throughout the workshop, participants were able to incorporate themselves to various activities in relation to the filming of the documentary, in particular the Annual Holy Spirit Festivity, and a Gender and Identity Workshop organized by two of the students, Digna Reyes from the Woman's and Health Cooperative and Alicia Sangro.  In this first meeting, they discussed issues of sexuality and decided on the issues they were interested in addressing in future meetings such as drug addiction, reproductive health, teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, family planification, and how to relate to your partner.  In the next few months, we'll continue to meet at the Mata Los Indios School in collaboration with the Woman's and Health Cooperative to discuss these and other issues.

7) Gender and Identity Workshop:

In the month of June began the Gender and Identity workshop coordinated by Digna Reyes from the Women's Health Cooperative and Alicia Sangro at the Mata Los Indios primary school.  Such ssues as sexuality, reproductive health and women's rights were discussed.  Melassa's workshop participants incorporated themselves into this workshop along with their mothers, older sisters, and other members of the community.  We hope to have these meetings once a month.