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NEW SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM TO AID
PEOPLE OF WAR
Prescott - An estimated 170 million people have been killed by wars and
totalitarian genocide in the 20th century. There were 10 million Native Americans
living in North America prior to European colonialism. By 1900, there were
approximately 250,000 still alive. Of the 8.89 million Jews living in Europe
before World War II, fewer than 600,000 escaped death. The Cambodian genocide
killed 2 million and 700,000 have immigrated to the United States after being
traumatized and tortured.
The statistics go on and on. Eva Morales, of Guatemala, is one of those
statistics. In 1954 a military junta, with support of the United States Central
Intelligence Agency, overthrew her country's government, resulting in a war
lasting almost four decades. After that, the military ruled with an iron
fist, resulting in 150,000 deaths, 50,000 disappearances, 1 million internally
displaced persons and 250,000 refugees. The war and repression in Guatemala
included mass-rapes, clandestine prisons, massacres, death squads, assassinations,
and the torture of men, women and children.
Morales' family was not spared. Many of her family members disappeared and
she suffered imprisonment in solitary confinement at the age of 12. When
she was 16 years old she founded the country's first human rights organization
with her 84-year-old grandmother.
"My country suffered 36 years of internal war and in 1986, I was forced
to leave after I helped co-found a human rights organization," she said.
Morales has lived in the United States for the past 12 years, working for
organizations that work on human rights, labor, youth, women and immigration
issues. However, she has never had the chance to complete her education.
Prescott College is giving her that chance through a new scholarship program
called People of War Education Reach Out (POWER), which will enable people
from war-torn countries to complete their education. Morales is the program's
first student, and she will complete her Bachelor of Arts degree in counseling,
with emphasis on Guatemalan culture and the trauma from the civil strife
in her country, through Prescott College's Adult Degree Program, a community-based
undergraduate degree completion program.
Jeanne Cashin, a faculty member in the Master of Arts Program, with a Ph.D.
in trauma psychology with an emphasis in genocide and oppression, founded
the program.
"Through my travel and study I've met people from around the world
who are victims of war," Cashin said. "I thought, 'What can Prescott
College do?' We have the ability to provide them with an education. We have
the infrastructure; we just need the funding. Students can come to Prescott
College and design a program that fits their culture and needs to a tee."
Cashin met Morales four years ago at an International Society of Stress
Studies conference in Washington, D.C., where Morales lives. Later, Morales
traveled to Prescott to deliver the keynote address at the November 1999
Master of Arts Program Colloquium, the residential component of the program,
which includes student and faculty workshops and presentations.
A generous gift from a Master of Arts Program alumnus who wishes to remain
anonymous established the POWER scholarship. The scholarship will cover the
cost of Morales' tuition, books and travel.
In presenting the gift to the College, the donor commented, "I heard
Eva speak at a colloquium and I got in touch with the reality that had been
in the back of my mind - how poorly the CIA had treated folks in South America,
specifically Guatemala, and how cruelly her family was treated by the government
supported by America. You need to put your money where your mouth is rather
than just talk about it."
Cashin is working to acquire gifts to the POWER fund from several organizations,
including the Ford Foundation. She hopes to see two to three students in
the POWER program by next year.
"This is a very exciting opportunity for us to be of service to those
people who have suffered the effects of war and genocide. At Prescott College
these students will be able to design a program that fits their cultural
and personal needs," she said. "This doesn't resolve what happened
to these people, but it's a way we think we can help them get their lives
together and find their place in the world."
To find out more about POWER, donate to the scholarship fund or suggest
a student who might benefit from a Prescott College education, please contact
Jeanne Cashin at 928/778-2090 ext. 3207.
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