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During the summer months, WE WIN Institute brings youth to Africa on an Educational Tour and Cultural Rites of Passage. This is an opportunity of a lifetime. The trip enables young people who are involved in our Rites of Passage programs to experience what they have been studying throughout the year. Many prominent adults have accompanied our youth, including Dr. Carol Johnson, the former superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools. Young people who are not part of the Rites of Passage are also able to come to the "motherland." All young people who make the journey, must work to earn their money for the trip. We have learned that when children work for the trip that they appreciate it more.
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WE WIN has taken young people to Ghana, Senegal, the Gambia, and Togo. They have seen the treacherous Castles, where Africans were held as prisoners until they were boarded onto ships in chains, going through the notorious, "Door of No Return," which sent them through the Middle Passage, never to see their homeland again.
Young people learn about the foods and plants that are indigenous to Africa. They visit mueseums, meet with chiefs and queens, and met the vice president of Ghana. Students also meet other young people in the various countries that have gone through their own rites of passage. They dance together, play drums, swim, learn to barter and get a real connection of the greatness of their history and culture. They leave understanding the contributions that people that look like them have made to Africa and to the world. No child comes home the same. They have a great pride in being African!
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The two week trip requires extensive fundraising. The trip averages $3000. It is a lot of hard work and commitment on the part of the children and adults that accompany them. Most of the children that take the journey are low income and live in the inner-city where many have not been out of Minneapolis, yet alone the United States. They learn what is required to get a passport. They learn the importance of being on a schedule for the fundraising as well as the rigous schedule that they must follow in Africa. All financial support of young people to Africa is welcomed and encouraged!
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For those who would like to come with or more importantly, sponser a child to go to Africa, please contact us at (612) 721-2364.
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© 2007 WE WIN Institute Inc.
