A Week at Somos
Leaders are made in the toughest of times. Somos Mayfair’s call is to build and support immigrant leaders who are prepared to take on any issue that may confront them. Yet, while we do it, we can also create beauty, take care of each other, hold on to our culture, and bring forth the best of who we are as a community.
- Every Monday morning, twenty Mayfair mothers meet to make theater. They sift through lessons of their ancestors and sort out hopes for their children. Despite hardship, they weave beauty out of stories and inspire thousands of their neighbors and others just like them in communities from Gilroy to Oakland.
- Each Tuesday, twelve more mothers attend support groups to build their confidence and esteem in the face of domestic violence and other seemingly endless challenges immigrant women face. Mutual aid is unquestioned. They are among the 200 families we support each year, addressing their most urgent needs and constructing with them their future goals.
- Wednesdays, twenty-five mothers and fathers exercise together and learn healthy ways to feed their families. Faced with the growing epidemic of diabetes in the Latino community, 50 parents each year are preventing obesity in their families.
- Thursdays, fifteen more women meet to take on the social and economic obstacles preventing Mayfair families from living healthy lives. They write letters, attend meetings, speak out for justice at rallies, and knock on neighbors’ doors encouraging them to participate in change-making; challenging them to take to heart the message of Sí se Puede / Yes, We Can!, that uniting phrase born here, in this historic neighborhood.
- Fridays, twenty more meet year-round to plan three family-friendly events for more than 1,000 area residents: an October Day of the Dead, a December Posada, and on this coming May 9th our annual Mother’s Day celebration. In organizing these events, Mayfair mothers hold on to their cultural legacy, share theater, music and traditional food, and create the sacred space in which neighbors meet each other and recognize that we can do anything when we begin to know one another.