Dear Community,

We're thrilled to share a surge of excitement with you, overflowing like a starbursting fountain! Time's chariot has raced, and it's time for some MAJOR UPDATES! 🌟⏳

In the past year, the House of Kilig formed with 13 members! We had a sold-out Harana show at BASE in May, completed our Siren video shoot on Whidbey Island in June, dazzled at ENBY Party with our behind-the-scenes workshop in August. We also got into Jack Straw studios to record our “Death Looks Like Me” poem and HOK Moon River tracks with Amori, Freddie, and Izumi. Just this month, we received the Precipice Grant through PICA. Our roots have spread along the west coast, many of us now in Portland, OR (on the unceded homelands of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, and Molalla people). Through this journey, a pressing need emerged—a dream for a sanctuary, a space to rest, create, dream, and imagine a thriving world for us and our communities. A haven where embodiment is embraced, where we address limitations and foster our life force energy. 🌱✨

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(ID: Moonyeka & kai at a podium as apart of Precipice Fund PICA celebrations. Gaby and Heidi stand to the right hands behind their back, smiling, Olivia and Sam stand to the left looking towards the podium)

It is with big excitement that we announce that

this dream has come to fruition!

The story goes like this:

In an act of curiosity one fall afternoon kai, with his Virgo rising magic began researching the process of what it would mean to obtain space. 🍂

A few hours later, kai, engrossed in a Craigslist wormhole, searching for something that could meet this yearning, and BAM! serendipity bared its moonlit face. A space revealed itself, and dared us to choose it back, to lean into our roles as space holders and tenders. We were ready to forge deeper connections—strengthening our kapwa with ourselves and with our present, neighboring, and forthcoming communities. 🌌

We consulted some of our HOK fam and after many weepy conversations full of butterfly balisong knife clarity, we said yes to the space!

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(kai signing some very official papers!)

…And so, Paruparo fluttered out of its cocoon and came into existence…. 🐛🦋

(ID: Moonyeka on the left, holding hands with kai, they wear a brown skirt with a velvety brown button up, off the shoulder, kai wears blue jeans, white boots and a white fuzzy cardigan, the background is a gold wall with a circular mural from a past artist, presumedly embodying the four elements. Picture taken by @sam.doodles)

Paruparo, pronounced peru-peru, is a Tagalog-Austronesian word for “butterfly”. We like to subscribe to the belief that this word is an onomatopoeia, emulating the sound of the wings fluttering. In this case, we see this word more as a trans type of noun as it is derived from the action of fluttering, or being a butterfly which is an embodiment, a journey more than it is a destination. We called in the spirit of Paruparo to the space we want to build, hoping it would extend its wisdom of gentle action and the way it can initiate the flurries of individuals to flutter collectively to places we’ve been, places we’ve dreamed, and places we’re going. In the spirit of kapwa, this word is the mascot for the space we want to build, as it is in solidarity with the many Black, Brown, and Indigenous cultures that also have a reduplicating, p-shaped-onomatopoeic word to describe butterflies. We chose this symbol to reclaim the natural way that cross pollination of ideas, culture, migration and metamorphosis occurs across diaspora.

Paruparo is a QTPOC-centered artist and healing venue that offers classes, workshops, and practice space. We center the liberation of trans and queer people of color by providing safe(r) containers to deepen our spiritual and creative practices.

The physical space is 1000 sq ft in what was held as a community meditation space for the last two decades. We will be prioritizing COVID-conscious practices and will provide masks (and COVID tests when available) for community members. We will also have a mutual aid pantry where we will source shelf-stable food items and snacks, personal hygiene products, PPE, and supplies for sex workers. There are two single stall gender neutral bathrooms as well! At this time, Paruparo lacks accessibility for folx with varying mobility access needs (i.e. there is a flight of stairs that must be used to access the space).

We have been hard at work, renovating Paruparo (shoutout to YouTube for teaching us all sorts of new handy things!). Here is a time lapse video so you can see how far we have come:

Our opening event on January 12th, TROPIKAL TANTRUM: AN OPENING CELEBRATION & FUNDRAISER, raised 9% of our $25,000 goal!

Peep our instagram for the highlights :)

We invite you to spread your wings as a Mariposa by contributing a one-time donation or soaring with us monthly through consistent support.

With big kilig,
kai & nawa

🦋 Help Paruparo take flight! 🦋