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Harambee Summer Festival |
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About Us |
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Our Program |
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With this festival, we strive to provide an opportunity to build ego-development for our children with an opportunity to build lasting relationships with children of similar birth histories and cultures. The original premise was to provide our children with an experience that reflects their own family dynamics. We want to provide a setting that will celebrate and demonstrate to our children that other families are “just like theirs”. We focus on the kid’s needs and make this a child-focused festival, as many of these children are the only “kids of color” in their school and/or community. They are alone in their difference. This family festival is the only one of its kind in the Pacific Northwest. Our biggest obstacle in providing a festival of this magnitude is the financial burden. As our numbers have been growing each year, securing a consistent and adequate venue has become a challenge. Some families are unable to attend due to the financial strain required to travel to the festival. Adoption is lifelong. We want to provide a cultural connection and provide support to adoptive families, especially to those in smaller communities who are not in an environment that provides diversity, both racially and culturally. In some cases, this is the one time a year where these children are able to immerse themselves in their culture and not be a minority. They build special and unique bonds with other children who have also been adopted transracially. These once-a-year opportunities enable the children to make life long connections. As a core group of adoptive parents, we have submitted the following request for your support that we may be able to continue to provide and expand opportunities for interracial families to unite. We are a group of active, caring, concerned adoptive parents, parenting children from outside of our culture. This festival provides the opportunity for our children, even though it’s only for a few days - the chance to feel acceptance and alliance with families that reflect themselves. We can’t express how important this annual festival is to our kids. We are parent-driven as well as motivated by our children’s needs. |
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