Giving hope to millions of youth around the globe
Giving hope to millions of youth around the globe
Nearly half of youth under the age of 18 live in poverty in the Dominican Republic, according to UNICEF. Although the country’s economy has been steadily improving, the country’s poor people still struggle to get enough food to eat and to access safe drinking water and adequate housing. Only 30% of youth finish primary school and only 18% finish secondary school on time. Schools are in poor shape with nearly half having no access to safe drinking water and more than 60% lacking adequate bathroom facilities.
Many students do not have the supplies necessary to complete their studies and teachers lack access to ongoing teacher education. As a result, many youth lack the education and training to compete in the job market. To meet this need, Salesian programs in the Dominican Republic focus on education and vocational training to help youth learn the skills and trades necessary to find stable employment.
Salesian missionaries in the Dominican Republic are getting youth who work on the streets back to school through Boys and Girls with Don Bosco, a network of educational and social programs operating out of 12 Salesian centers, eight of them located in Santo Domingo, the country’s capital city. To date more than 65,000 impoverished youth have accessed programs and services that have helped them gain an education and lead more stable lives.
Boys and Girls with Don Bosco began in 1985 as a pilot program to help young people who were selling newspapers on the streets of Santo Domingo access education and social development services. In more than 30 years of operation, the small pilot program has turned into a vast network of services operating out of several Salesian centers easily accessible by poor youth and their families. Programs begin by working directly with youth and continue by reaching out to family members through services that help them become support to the young people in their lives.
Many youth turned to working on the streets to earn money to help them escape violence, broken families, substance abuse and neglect at home. Others were sent by their parents to earn a meager wage to help support the family. The wrap-around and supportive family services offered by the program are essential to help youth remain engaged in their studies and eventually finish elementary and secondary education.
Through the program’s history, more than 20,000 youth have gone back to school, 25,000 have participated in summer activities and more than 20,000 have been trained in educational and employment focused workshops. Boys and Girls with Don Bosco continues to expand as the needs of youth change. Father Ángel Sánchez, director of Boys and Girls with Don Bosco, is currently looking for an increase in the program’s annual budget in order to offer technology courses and hire and train more teachers
The Salesians of Madrid and the Real Madrid Foundation, in collaboration with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Salesian Province of the Antilles, celebrated the opening of their first two socio-sporting schools in the Dominican Republic.
The two new schools — the Don Bosco Educational Plaza in Hainamosa and the Dominic Savio School House in Santo Domingo — use soccer as a tool for social integration, improving the quality of life for boys and girls who are at risk of social exclusion. Alongside the sports, schools provide various support services to children and their families, such as tutoring, classroom space for homework, vocational training, health care, nutrition education, and cultural and recreational activities.
In the Dominican Republic, the Madres Project addresses the root causes of homelessness among women and children, while teaching mothers the skills to find decent work and improve their living conditions. Participants can take courses in health care and human rights, while working toward basic literacy.
Salesian missionaries in the country offer a variety of educational and social development programs for youth, many with an emphasis on recreation and sports activities. The goal is to provide the opportunities necessary to gain an education and break the cycle of poverty as well as deter young people from life on the streets and the lure of gangs.
Through a partnership with the Salesians of Madrid and the Real Madrid Foundation, in collaboration with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and the Salesian Province of the Antilles, Salesian students in Santo Domingo have access to a socio-sporting school. Dominic Savio School House in Santo Domingo uses soccer as a tool for social integration, improving the quality of life for boys and girls who are at risk of social exclusion. Alongside the sports, the school provides various support services to children and their families such as tutoring, classroom space for homework, vocational training, health care, nutrition education, and cultural and recreational activities.
The collaboration between Salesian missionaries and the Real Madrid Foundation has been very successful granting more than 2,000 youth and vulnerable children the opportunity to participate in similar programs around the globe.
Haitian immigrants and those living in poverty received healthy nutrition thanks to a partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger. The shipment of rice-meals was sent to the Don Bosco Salesian Foundation and then distributed to nine centers during the second half of 2022. The recipients, who work most directly with Haitian immigrants, included Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Montalvo Center, Santo Domingo Savio School Home, Our Lady of Altagracia Parish, Scalabrinian Association, Association of People with Physical-Motor Disabilities, Villa Juana Parish, Corazon de Jesus (Family Ministry) and the Cruz Jiminian Foundation.
Eight Salesian-run health clinics, located in Santo Domingo, Jarrabacoa, Hainamosa, La Vega, and Santiago, received medical aid in 2016 and 2017 thanks to an ongoing partnership between Salesian Missions and Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now), an international relief organization that provides food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable. In addition to providing countries around the globe with nutritious meals, Rise Against Hunger also leverages partnerships to provide other types of aid including medical supplies, soap, clothing and school supplies.
The donation consisted of assorted medicine like NSAIDs, antibiotics, GI medication and high blood pressure medication. Another shipment included additional medication, along with diagnostic and surgical supplies. It also included hygiene products, baby wash, toothbrushes and crutches. The Dominican Republic was one of six countries to receive medical aid from Rise Against Hunger last year. Through its long-term partnership with Salesian Missions, Rise Against Hunger was able to provide health clinics with medications, lab equipment, orthodontist and dentist equipment, and other supplies including those for nursing mothers.
Mothers of young children use Salesian health clinics for routine exams as well as illness. Cheroly takes her daughter Andreli, age 4 months, for her regular vaccines and consultations with the pediatrician at San Pedro Apostal Dispensary. The nursing staff also showed her how to breastfeed, and she receives free medicine. The health clinics also care for adults in the community. Magaly, age 73, has visited the San Pedro Apostal Dispensary over the last three to four months for treatment for high blood pressure. Before, she could not afford the medicine she needed, but at the Salesian medical clinic she receives medicine and high-quality care free of charge.
The “Dreams and Hopes for Children” project initiated by the Agency for International Cooperation of South Korea (KOICA) has launched at the Doña Chucha center in Santo Domingo. The project included the development of new classrooms and art education initiatives at the Doña Chucha center which serves girls and adolescents living in situations of vulnerability.
Operated by missionaries who are part of the Salesian Mary Help of Christians parish, the center includes a shelter for girls at risk and a day school for boys and girls. It is one of 11 centers facilitated by the Muchachos y Muchachas con Don Bosco network.
Julia Ann, a Korean volunteer who facilitated the project, has been overseeing the renovation of the workshops and the creation of artistic and craft projects at the Doña Chucha school. She began by transforming a computer room into a space where art can also be taught. Then she worked on the renovation of a classroom where girls learn handiworks.
Currently she is working on promoting an “Educational and practical manual of art and artistic education from recycled materials” which will be distributed to other Salesian centers. Julia Ann’s projects have benefited 85 girls who are living at the center and another 29 boys and girls who attend the school.
From Dominican Republic
From Dominican Republic
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