Global sending best of luck to models in Second Annual Sea Bunita Sea Bo Mes !

Global sends congratulations to all the models, organizers, and self-advocates in Aruba for the second annual Sea Bunita Sea Bo Mes!

Two of the models who will be rocking the runway in Aruba this year were also models at Global’s Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show! We wish the best of luck to Jake, Shawndré, and to all of the other models in this year’s fashion show.

We are honored to have been invited to the event. Global is busy preparing for a summer of advocating and financially supporting research and medical care for people with Down syndrome, which has prevented us from attending. In our absence, President and CEO Michelle Sie Whitten offers words of encouragement and support for this amazing event in Aruba!

Since 2013, Hans Geerman, President and Director of the Fundación Sea Bunita Sea Bo Mes, has been working on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba to change the way people see individuals with Down syndrome.

“We started organizing different events to make the Aruban community more aware of integration and inclusion for people with Down syndrome,” Geerman said.

Originally, the foundation operated under the name Ban Papia,, which means “Let’s Talk,” until an influential trip to Denver to attend Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s 2015 Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show, where his son Shawndré modeled. The visit proved so inspirational that Hans decided to bring that experience back to the island.

“After the event, we returned to Aruba and sponsored the first Aruba fashion show as Fundación Sea Bunita Sea Bo Mes (Be Beautiful Be Yourself Foundation),” he said. “The show starred members of our community with Down syndrome as models and local business and media personalities as their escorts. The event was a sellout, and the feedback has been positive beyond what we could hope it would be.”