Gender Equality Dominican Republic Project #11863

Mariposa Center For Girls

by The Mariposa DR Foundation

Project Report | Oct 15, 2024
Day of the Girl at the Mariposa Center for Girls

By Antarah Chopra & Jessica Lawson | Executive Team

In 2011, the UN officially recognized October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child: a day to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face all around the world. On this day at the Mariposa Center for Girls, we honor and amplify the international girl movement, which aims to end child marriage, improve access to education and health care, and bring awareness to the endemic of gender violence everywhere.

This year, the Mariposa girls celebrated this important day with special activities at the center as well as out in the community. They visited five local schools and did presentations for their peers on the significance of this day and why educating and empowering girls is especially important and how communities can support the international movement.

At the Mariposa Center, the older girls did a special morning circle to teach our new, younger Mariposas about International Day of the Girl, empowering and mentoring them on how to start advocating for themselves.

All of the girls spent time at the center engaging in wellness activities to take care of their minds and bodies. We began the day with a celebratory yoga class and guided meditation and then mini spa treatments were available throughout the day. The Mariposa Center for Girls is a safe and relaxing space and in addition to providing a world-class education, we want them to feel special, loved and cared for.

At our Center, International Day is the most celebrated day of the year. We know that when a girl is educated, empowered, and employed, she will have healthier children when she’s ready, earn income that she will invest back into her family, and ultimately break the persistent cycle of generational poverty. That’s why, for the past 16 years, we have provided comprehensive services directly to Dominican and Haitian girls throughout each year. And we have high hopes for the future of our Mariposa Center for Girls in Cabarete.

It’s because of you that 175 girls born into poverty have a safe space to learn, play and grow. Your contributions help ensure that we can continue to make every day International Day of the Girl. We would not be where we are today without your support. Educating and empowering girls is the most important cause of our time and we thank you for continuing on this journey with us.

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Jun 18, 2024
Courage, Toughness, and Heart: Sports at the Mariposa Center for Girls

By Antarah Chopra | Executive Assistant

Mariposa girl hitting it out of the park!

At the Mariposa Center for Girls, every girl is an athlete with the potential to accomplish anything she wants. We know that participating in sports boost self-esteem, build supportive and uplifting communities, teach lifelong skills of resilience and determination, and allow girls to feel empowered in their own abilities.

Even though women’s sports are internationally on the rise, in the Dominican Republic, sports are still dominated by boys and men. Most girls who live in poverty do not even have money for school tuition, books, uniforms, and transportation, let alone to play on a sports team.

Nearly every neighborhood in the Dominican Republic has a baseball field which is filled at all hours by boys’ and mens’ teams who dream of going pro abroad. In fact, MLB teams collectively spend $90 million USD in the Dominican Republic every year in developing male sports talent. Hardly any resources, if any at all, are dedicated to empowering girls and women through sports.

At Mariposa, girls have the opportunity to participate in a plethora of sports from baseball, volleyball, gymnastics, tennis, biking and soccer to surfing, swimming, stand-up paddleboarding, and kite surfing.

Throughout the year at Mariposa, the girls participate in a summer camp that is full of sports both in and outside of the Center, play in Mariposa’s own Olympic Games with high school students from the United States, and explore their athletic interests and abilities by expert coaches and athletes.

If you visit Cabarete, you can see Mariposa girls dominating the surf waters in Encuentro, cheering their teammates on as they score a homerun at the baseball field, and giving each other high fives after learning a new skill in swimming–and most of the time, they’re all wearing skirts!

As pro-surfer Bethany Hamilton says, “Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts. That’s what little girls are made of; the heck with sugar and spice.”

Thank you to our incredible community for supporting all of our programs at the Mariposa Center for Girls, and especially those who believe in the power of women’s sports. For those who would like to support our summer camp, please consider making a donation today.

Pool time is everyone's favorite!

Making tennis accessible to every Mariposa!

Mariposa girls are great surfers too!

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Feb 22, 2024
Farm to Table Fun

By Jessica Lawson | Co-founder

Girls gardening at the center.

At Mariposa, we remain deeply committed to helping girls developing life-long, healthy habits, protecting the environment and respecting the abundant natural resources the Dominican Republic has to offer.

With our garden thriving and our new teaching kitchen up and running, we have been able to implement an entirely plant-based nutrition program, serving nearly 1,000 delicious, colorful and healthy meals and snacks to our girls, staff and volunteers every week!

In addition, we've started cooking classes that allow the girls to get creative and develop recipes with the organic produce straight from the garden. We know that when girls take ownership of what they eat and their health, it will have a ripple effect throughout the entire community. As large contributers to household responsibilities, most young girls are at least partially responsible for preparing meals for their families. They are proud to implement their new knowledge and skills in their homes!

Shifting to a whole-food, plant-forward diet while on site, is not only beneficial to our girls' health, it's a tribute to their culture and an acknwledgement of the extraordinary life-giving resources that their country has to offer. The Dominican people have been living off of the land for generations and our farm to table gardening and cooking classes focus on learning new and exciting ways to prepare both familiar and some new ingredients.

Growing and preparing their own healthy food is empowering and it allows them to expand their palettes and develop new skills that will help keep them healthy and influence the people closest to them.

Like everything we do at the Mariposa Center for Girls, making it fun goes a long way. We work together to come up with new recipes and hope to create a cookbook in the future. Every single girl on campus gets involved in some aspect of gardening, recipe development, shopping & budgeting, cooking and serving. It brings such joy to everyone's day at the Center.

The Mariposa Center for Girls has truly become a wellness sanctuary over the years and this is all possible because of the generosity and support of people like you.

Thank you for being a part of our team!

Making plant based sushi!

Mexican inspired vegan lunch at the Center.

Smoothies with fresh fruit from the garden.

Plant based lunch is served.

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