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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 1997)
T he P ortland O bsi rver • M ay 7, 1997 P age B5 OVf Event to benefit women Mother credits determination “If you can’t teach me, don’t criticize m e,” Sonya Carson recalled telling her two sons, world renowned engineer, when she realized they were ashamed o f her. “My boys were ashamed o f me - yes, they were,” Sonya Carson admitted in an ihterview with this Sunday’s Parade magazine. “They would say, ‘Mom, why can’t you speak in such-and-such a w ay?’ I would say to them, ‘Teach m e.’” That simple rule, she believes, helped her sons to grow up into adults who would always recognize their duty to people less fortunate than they. Unable to attend school because o f health prob lems, Sonya was married at 13 to an older man and had two sons in quick succession. When her husband, who was already married with another family, deserted her, she was forced to raise her sons alone in desperate poverty. Realizing that the violence o f the streets could easily ensnare her sons, she made it her job to insure that would not happen. She made her boys come home and do homework, and she limited them to just two television programs a week. The rest o f their spare time, she decreed, would be spent reading. “Both o f my boys could read much better than I could,” Sonya said. “So I had them read me my favorite book - the book o f Proverbs. Then I asked them to explain to me what they had read.” W hile her sons were getting their college degrees - Curtis at the University o f Michigan, where Ben also earned his M.D. after an undergraduate degree from Yale, all on scholarships - she went back to earn her Family circle: Sonya Carson, seated, with (rear, l-r) her grandson Murray, 13: daughter-in-law Candy and son Benjamin; son Curtis, grandson Rhoeyce, 10, and daughter-in- law Janice: and (her grandchildren Erin, 14. Ben Jr., 11, and Cari, 10. a. she recalled. “They would say, ‘M other, this is w rong,’ and change this and that. They helped me a lot.” W ith her new education, Sonya was able to leave a string o f menial jobs and become an interior decorator. Asked if she had any advice for other single mothers, Sonya said, “D on’t shower your babies with "toos.’ D on’t always tell them, ‘Y ou’re to cute for words, you’re too GED certificate. “I would write papers and ask them to correct m e,” pretty. ’ Instead you should keep telling them, ‘W hatever you are, be your best.’ T hat’s what a child needs7 to learn.” Today, Ben Carson is the director o f pediatric neurosurgery at John Hopkins Hospital, where he developed the standard technique for separating Siamese twins. His older brother, Curtis, who holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a m aster’s in business, is a business manager for Allied Signal Corporation. They are both married and have given Sonya five grandchildren. Targeting Home-Based Business ‘Mompreneurs’ There is a new group o f small business owners springing up across A m erica called ‘M o m p ren eu rs.’ Mompreneurs - nearly 10 million o f them - are women with children who have embraced the concept o f being their own boss. They are jum ping into the small business ring, so they can spend more time with their kids while setting up home-based business. According to work-at-home ex p erts, E llen H. P a rla p ia n o and P a tric ia C obe, a u th o rs of * A starter kit with information to help get a small business off the ground and running *A free consultation with an in dustry expert •A ccess to a 24-hour Fax-on- Demand service with articles rang ing from marketing and navigatinhg the Internet to telephone techniques and advertising. * Access to the program web site, which offers online sessions with industry experts and a wealth o f small business background data. Momprenuers, A M other’s Practical Step-by-Step G uide to W ork-at- Home Success, this new breed o f business owners is powerful and growing. “T o d a y ’s m om preneurs w ant more control o f their time and more flexibility to be with their kids. Home-based businesses help many women achieve this,” said Ellen Parlapiano. The AT&T Resources for New Business Program includes the fol lowing components for its members: *A quarterly resource guide con taining additional information o i\ how to manage and grow a start-up business •A dedicated resource enter that an be accessed through a toll-free number •Discounts on products and ser vices, including equipment, software and payroll services from industry leaders. A uthor Ellen Parlapiano feels strongly that ‘ mompreneurs ’ need to rely on the best resources available. H abitat for H um anity will hold a financial “barn raising” for its W om enbuild project from 5:30 to 7:30 PM , T hursday, at N orthw est N atural G as, 220 N.W . Second Ave. W om enbuild is the n o n profit a g e n c y ’s first attem pt in P ortland to build a house w ith an all-w om en crew . It will be built on a vacant lot at 3430 N. C om m ercial A ve., and will be occupied by N icole W ill iams, a first-tim e hom e ow ner and social w orker, and her daughter A drianna. C onstruction is scheduled to b e gin in late M ay or early June, a c cording to H abitat associate direc- tor D oreen Roozee. The estim ated cost o f construc tion is $45,000 to $50,000. The fund-raiser w ill provide various opportunities to donate m oney to W om enbuild. People can “b u y ” pieces o f the house at various prices (a can o f nails for $ 10, a w all for $ 150 or a bathtub for $200), or “bu y ” the equiva lent o f a volunteer O rganizations can com m it to supplying a w ork crew for a week under supervision. The Piedm ont N e ig h b o r h o o d A s s o c ia tio n , W om en in C onstruction, and the T rade W om en’s N etw ork have m ade such com m itm ents. 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