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Class crosses cultures 08'
Camp Diva 08'
Wedded to a choice 08'
Class crosses cultures
By TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF
Published: January 11, 2008
 At Ma-Musu's, students learn cooking basics from generations past
As a girl growing up in Liberia, Ida Ma-Musu learned the art of cooking from her grandmother, Ida Bernice Williams.
Before departing her war-torn country for Richmond in 1980, she sat at her grandmother's bedside.
"She said, 'This is the end for me,' " Ma-Musu recalled. " 'I will never see you again. But I want you to promise me that everything I taught you, you will teach it. If you want me to live forever, pass it on.'"
And so she has.
Her third 10-week cooking class, "The Fundamentals of Womanhood" for girls ages 11 to 15, began earlier this week at Chef Ma-Musu's Africanne on Main, at 200 E. Main St. [Read more...]
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Camp Diva
By Patrice Baltimore
Published: July 9, 2008
 Camp Diva, a non-profit educational program based in Richmond, provides a nurturing safe-haven for girls and adolescents that instills in them the values necessary to cultivate them into productive and self-assured young women.
Camp Diva demonstrates its commitment to positivity by providing girls with inspiring mentors, various learning activities, enriching outings, educational resources, recreational opportunities, and a place to freely express themselves and expound on the qualities they possess.
Richmond resident Angela Patton established Camp Diva in 2004 as part of an earlier non-profit of hers, Spa Travelers. She named it in remembrance of Diva Mstadi Smith-Roane who lost her life in a 2004 domestic firearm accident at age 5. The summer retreat was such a success that Patton added an afterschool program in fall 2006.
Diva's mother, Clover Smith, hopes that she and her daughter are "an inspiration to the girls and mothers, and that they will accept and remember the love given to them in the camp." [Read more...]
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Wedded to a choice
By PENELOPE M. CARRINGTON/TIMES-DISPATCH
STAFF WRITER
Published: September 13, 2008
 Long before Terra Gibson slipped a ring on her finger as a symbol of her commitment to remain a virgin until marriage, the 16-year-old was wedded to the promise.
It's a choice she said is personal, though influenced by those around her who encourage her to consider the consequences of every decision. Should the home-schooled teen falter or change her mind, she knows how to practice safe sex and prevent pregnancy.
Gibson explored both ends of the sex education spectrum this summer in Camp Diva, an empowerment program for teen girls.
"If you're going out and having unprotected sex, it's because you don't know the risks," she said.
What teens know about sex, versus what they do when tempted, is as touchy a subject as comprehensive sex education versus abstinence-only programs. [Read more...]
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