Wari House Interview | The Cornell Experience another girl to secondary school. Kristina: We wanted it to be annual but given the economic hard times I think we’re gonna make it every two years. Because its $800 for four years.And that’s a lotta fundraising.Information about the scholarship and the girl’s profile is all on the website. DJ: So you fund for a new student evey two years? Kristina and Francine: Yeah Kristina:Our first scholarship went out last year. DJ: Oh , your first scholarship ever? Kristina:Yea.So we just created it. And we partnered with the Ghana Health and Educatoin Initiative. They actually make sure our funds actually go to a girl that fits our criteria because girls have no problem passing school. But its what Francine was mentioning, girls have housework to do and boys don’t so boys typically have more time to devote to school so they get higher grades when it comes to take the tests to makes sure you can get into secondary school. So when girls actually do pass the tests to get into secondary school they’re confronted with that financial barrier becase they’re from a small village, Humjimbre Village in Ghana. And the secondary school is usually miles and miles away. So that money helps out with room and board and that educational cost for 4 years. Cyre: Also I wanted to add about the community service. We’re looking into doing other community service projects in the area like maybe volunteering at Bridges. We’re trying to do Into the Streets this year. DJ:How did you guys get interested in the scholarship?
Kristina: One of our members went to Ghana through Cover Africa and she just saw, even though they were there for like malaria and this health focus, she just saw this disparity in education and how it was just really unfortunate for some girls who really wanted to go to school but either couldn’t afford it if they passed the test to get into secondary school. We were just talking about possibly contributing to it in some capacity to GHEI because they do try to fund to help cover the cost for children who can’t go.And we thought it be a good idea to create a scholarship for it because we’re all about education and women empowerment, especially women of African descent. So it just went well with the ideals of the house so we just contacted with them and made sure that the money goes specifically to a girl.
Kristina: Well, especially like, also Uj. Helps out a lot. They give us shout outs like every week at Unity Hour particularly because the first Unity Hour is about the assessment of Uj and the Willard Straight Takeover and Wari is very central to all of that. They do mention us and we always send representatives to Unity Hour every week. So even they do mention Wari people can connect our house and our history to current faces. And like, we have so many advocates in the community like Ken Glover, Professor Turner, Dr. Renee Alexander, they really put it out there for other students that we probably don’t reach.
DJ: I also wanted to ask how do you think the community views you?
Kristina and Francine:Yea Cyre: I’m a junior. Francine: we currently have two sophomores, two juniors, and 6 seniors. But for the past two years that I lived here, that’s how the numbers have been. And every year we have an influx of applications and I think that people love living in Wari and you kno, it’s a very friendly atmosphere and in addition to that, its like the best deal for campus housing. There’s no better place on campus to live. Kristina: Once you get into the house you can stay here until you graduate. So that’s why we have such a high number of seniors most of the time. I know I got here my sophomore year and I never left. And other people do the same thing. They might come sophomore year and junior year and stay. So we tend to have more upperclassmen depending on those numbers. In the future I just see more awareness and more connection to the black community and all the communities of color as well.
Kristina: Um, I don’t know. I think its definitely changing, I can tell you that much.From a, I would say, I don’t wanna misjudge previous years , but I would say that it was more so that the people who knew about the house were the people who lived in the house and their friends. And not necessarily a wider range of people in the black community but I feel like because every single member here for the most part is really out there and whatever fields they might be in is here. In addition to our friends, we also have affiliations with different organizations and sometimes those organizations come here, like Phenom held their meeting here and NSBE has had their meetings here…. Cyre: Les Femmes de Substance Kristina: Les Femmes uh…BWSN has had their meetings here. It just increases awareness of our house and we just really been trying to do that through co-programming and just inviting other black organizations here to get the word out. But I would definitely say that people, I don’t know. Cyre’: well you can even tell with just the increase in applications for Wari. So much more females on campus know more about Wari as opposed to my freshmen year. Francine: I agree. I didn’t know about Wari for a very long time. Until last year, right before I applied. So I think that awareness about the house is the thing that is changing the most.
DJ: My last question was what is the future for Wari House? Are you all seniors?
--Reported by Deborah Jack For more information about the Wanawake Wa Wari, you may visit http:// www.rso.cornell.edu/wari/index.html
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