Today I was out in La Vega (25 minutes outside of Santiago) again to hike up into the hills, visiting the homes of the girls in the NEW HOPE GIRLS ACADEMY. You can see some of the photos on my website :
Week of May 10th, 2012
This week I have been spending time with my friends who run the NEW HOPE GIRLS ACADEMY in La Vega. Joy and Vidal Reyes. I help where I can taking photos for their website, Facebook, publications and sponsors. Today, as I was taking photos of each girl for sponsors I became very reflective when I had a moment to pause. Some of these girls have seen more in these first years of their lives than I have in my 39 years. It's shocking. And infuriating. And so DISTURBING.
NEW HOPE exists for many reasons. A few that stick with me are because there are children in the DR who do not have birth certificates. If you do not have one you may not go to school. Their parents may not have one. Nor grandparents. It seems to say that if you do not have a BC you do not exist.
Some of the girls come from horrific living conditions that include physical and sexual abuse. NEW HOPE houses 4 of their girls who attend school because of the extreme conditions they have endured. All come from extremely poor families. Homes that are considered shacks in any 1st world country. We visited a girl's home today whose mother is dying. So sad but to see the love she has for her daughter is inspiring. Another precious girl only gets to go to school occasionally as she is required to take care of her 4 younger siblings, haul water and do laundry every day.
NEW HOPE has built a very basic but beautiful school that has a kitchen and a dorm for those living there. They also have a branch of the Academy that is employing some of the mothers of these girls. Training them to make gorgeous sandals and handbags. If they can help empower the mothers they can help improve the lives of the girls they work with. It is devastating to think about what these beautiful young children have gone through. And encouraging to see the opportunity that NEW HOPE is providing for them as well as some of their mothers. I am honored to be able to help them in any way I can. I love New Hope Girls Academy and what they are doing.
NEW HOPE GIRLS ACADEMY: “Dreaming for the girls in the barrio the same dreams we have for our own daughters.”
http://newhopegirls.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Hope-Girls-Academy/ - to take a look at the bags and sandals the mothers are making!
No comments:
Post a Comment