Mariposas DR Foundation
On Friday we visited the Mariposas DR foundation who educates girls from the ages 8-18. We got a tour of the beautiful grounds and were able to see what type of work they were doing with these girls. The girls who would attend were girls from the local neighborhoods and from some of the neighborhoods that we went to. The public schools, in the Dominican Republic, are only half days. Some children go in the morning and some children go in the afternoon. The girls go to Mariposas foundation, either in the morning or afternoon, whenever they are not in school. The foundation provided transportation for the girls to get to and from the school. One of the major things that the foundation is trying to do is to educate the girls in sex education. It is common for girls here to become sexual active as early as 18. Teenage pregnancy and prostitution are common and they are trying to provide the girls and young adults with other options. By teaching them english and teaching them about sex and some of the consequences of it, it is opening new doors and new possibilities for these girls.
I really liked what they were doing at the Mariposas DR foundation. The foundation teaches the girls English so they can have more opportunities for a different life than they think that have to have. They can get a waitressing job or work in a store, because Cabarete is a tourist town. They allow these girls to see more opportunities than becoming a mother at 15 or becoming a prostitute. I eventually want to work with children who come from lower class families and these experiences are helping me witness first hand how to help these children overcome some of these outside barriers.