Home Of Change

I was born in the Dominican Republic. However, we moved to the U.S. for seven years, eventually moving back to the D.R. when I was nine. Living in the Dominican Republic during my teen years definitely exposed me first hand to poverty. At a very young age, I saw a clear difference between First and Third World country. It was a shock to realize that just down the street, a family could be starving or without beds. It was easy for those of us who were financially stable to accept the social-economic gap, but my parents kept my siblings and I very grounded and taught us to develop a heart for those in need.

In high school I got involved in volunteering at “Bateys”, which are small, poor communities of mostly Haitian families who worked in sugarcane fields. We distributed food and school supplies to the families there, while building relationships with them. One of the communities we came across had no water system. They walked for miles with buckets in hopes of finding a water source to drink, cook and bathe. That experience caused the initial spark in me to be a voice for the voiceless.

At 18 years of age, I launched “Got Water?” This was a one-month campaign to raise $1000 dollars for a water system in their community. On a trip to a different Batey, I bumped into two older, foreign men accompanied by some locals. They were asking a mother for her 12-year-old daughter, whom after asking the locals, found out that they wanted to buy her for sex. This had been my first encounter with human trafficking.

What is the vision and mission of Home Of Change?
Home Of Change exists to provide educational, financial, and healthcare resources to the girls and women of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Our goal is to reduce the risk of trafficking for sexual and labor purposes by instilling leadership in the community. Our vision is to develop women into key leadership roles in their communities, enabling them to pave their own road to social change.

Human trafficking is a very dangerous and growing black market. To fight the people behind it is like going to a face-to-face fight with drug dealers and criminals. At Home of Change, we do not have the staff or resources to carry out rescue operations in brothels or even on the streets. Therefore, we are committed to working against the root causes, including poverty and lack of education.

Our mission is to create a community of young girls and women who, with the help from Home of Change and our partners in the field, are empowered by education. We believe in creating opportunities and sustainable solutions, such as small businesses and skills that allow them to provide for themselves, that they can manage and grow without further direct assistance. And in turn, encourage and mentor others in their communities.

Why did you pick the name Home of Change and what does it mean?
I want the organization to be seen as a place where these girls feel safe and comfortable sharing their experiences and growing from them. I want it to be a place of refuge and restoration, a home. I combined who we wanted to be with what we offered, home and change; hence, Home of Change.

Share some stories about the problems in these areas?
Most women in these areas have little to no education and lose any hopes of having a better lifestyle. They are expected to marry at very young ages and become housewives and mothers. Many girls are already married and pregnant by the time they are 17 years old. In fact, some girls are married as young as 14 to men as old as 40 years old. In many cases, there is physically and sexually abuse in the marriage.

Abortion is also a very common practice. Most abortions are performed on teenage girls 15 to 17 years of age. Researchers believe that the lack of education of both the parents and the child play a very important role. These are families that are trying to survive. Their goals are to meet their basic needs. Many times, they do not have the resources to send their daughters to school so when an older man comes along offering a better life for their daughters they do not hesitate. It is one less mouth to feed.

Estefani’s Story
When I was a senior in high school I met 16-year-old girl, Estefani. She was a tech at the nail salon I visited. As I was graduating high school, she was two years younger, not in school and working full time to survive. Five years later, Estefani was killed by her husband’s jealous rage at the young age of 21. She never got the change to graduate high school. She will never get a chance to give the daughter she left behind, a better life. I can’t help but wonder, what if? What if she had an education and an opportunity to make and pursue dreams of her own?

Marina’s Story
Marina Urena struggled to feed her three children. Her husband had abandoned her. She made $25 a week by washing clothes and cleaning homes by day and dancing in a bar at night. One night, a Dominican man named Antonio told her she could get better work in Spain. It was an offer she couldn’t refuse: a job as a maid in Spain for $200 a week. She quickly accepted. “Nobody made that much money here—not a doctor, not a lawyer. How could I say no?” Urena said.

But when Marina arrived in Madrid, the Swiss pimps who met her at the Madrid airport took away her immigration papers and enslaved her at a bar called Casa Blanca. She was forced to become a sex slave and sell drugs and alcohol to her clients or risk more beatings. Urena was trapped for a year. She eventually escaped with the help of a Dominican sailor, who smuggled her aboard his ship.

Back home in the Dominican Republic, Urena reported the people who had helped enslave her to police. But nothing was done. Urena tells her story to warn other young women who are recruited to work in Europe. Despite the risk, thousands continue to leave the country at the promise of a good job and a better life. “Even when they know the dangers, girls are still eager to go because poverty is so miserable,” said Urena, whose plight was mirrored this week at a UN conference on the trafficking of Latin America women to Europe. “I had a bad experience. I was unlucky. That’s what they tell me when I try to warn others not to go,” Urena said, her eyes reddening with tears. “Other women come back and build houses, buy cars, flash their jewelry…”

So in recent years, she has worked with other entrapped women, social workers and prostitutes to set up two organizations in the Dominican Republic that counsel people about the dangers of the illicit traffic in women.**

In the Dominican Republic it is very common for women to then turn to work as either a maid or a prostitute. Unfortunately, it tends to be easier and more financially rewarding to become the latter. Along the coast where there are more tourists, it is not hard to find girls who are forced into prostitution by their own families as a means to provide. It has become the norm.

The Dominican Republic is definitely considered a child sex tourism destination.  It is not uncommon to come across foreigners who visit the island with the hopes of sleeping with minors. In fact, an American arrested in the Dominican Republic, Hubert Barkhasse, ran sex tours to bring American and Thai men to the Dominican Republic for the purposes of having sex with minors. (Associated Press Online, 19 September 1998)

Explain the specifics of what happens to a girl who is illegally trafficked out of the country. Why isn’t the government stopping this?
In most cases, like Marina Urena’s, girls are promised a prosperous job overseas. The traffickers do all the legwork and obtain visas for the girls. Once they arrive at their destination, their traveling documents and other identification are taken from them. At times they are sexually and physically abused and forced to take drugs as means of coercion.

Marina was lucky. Unfortunately, most victims never make it back home. In addition, the government does little to combat trafficking. In fact, many government officials are involved in exchange for money. They make it easy to obtain visas and leave the country. And when someone like Marina is saved and tries to demand justice, they are ignored and lucky if they are not silenced with their lives.

In the  “Trafficking in Persons Report 2010” released by the U.S. Department of State, the Dominican Republic was just categorized as a Tier 3 country. A Tier 3 classification means this is a country whose government does not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s (TVPA) minimum standards and is not making significant efforts to do so.

What are you currently doing in these countries?
Home Of Change is partnering with local organizations working on a one-to-one basis with families in the Dominican Republic. One of the organizations we will be working with is called Niños Por Una Esperanza, which was started by a pastor and his wife in Santiago with the mission to rescue “dumpster children”. These children are forced to go through the dumpster in search of food and any items they can recover from the city’s trash. It is a place that makes these children extremely vulnerable and a lot of the parents involved are single mothers. We want to reach out to these women.

We are starting micro-financing programs that provide women with small loans to reinvest in their small businesses or trades. Some examples include food stands or sewing and tailoring businesses. In addition, we are working on a campaign to keep girls in school, called “Girls To Schools”. We are looking to provide girls in need with supplies and uniforms; items that will lift a financial burden in their homes, and make way for them to attend their classes.

What do you hope to see changed through your organization?
I hope to see women empowered through education and leadership. I hope to see young girls deciding to continue to go school at the age of 14 and 15, and not getting married because they feel there is no other hope for their futures. I hope to give them back the right to dream, and dream big for themselves and their communities. We want them to believe that they are capable of being entrepreneurs and leaders in their communities; that they are the solution to the poverty that surrounds them.

What inspires you to continue this work?
First, my faith and calling in Christ. In addition, I recognize that I have been blessed more than many in my country, and I feel a sense of responsibility to help in any way I can. It makes my day to see that there is one less girl being forced into prostitution, and one more changing the world.

If people want to help, what can they do to get involved?
Get educated on the issue of human trafficking, not only in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but worldwide. The “Trafficking in Persons Report 2010” released in June of this year by the U.S. Department of State is an excellent source. They include statistics and stories from all over the world, including an interactive map. You can also visit our website for current projects, like the “Girls to Schools” Campaign, which we are working on for the fall.

Get more information about Home of Change and their latest campaigns

Carolina Diplan graduated from the International Academy of Design and Technology in 2009 with a B.S. in Marketing & Advertising. Originally from the Dominican Republic, Carolina has always had a heart for providing sustainable help for those in need. That desire turned into a passion, which led her to join the fight against human trafficking and poverty, and Home Of Change was born. In addition, she has pursued her own journey as an entrepreneur, and is currently co-owner of A Boutique Affair, an event-planning firm in Orlando, FL.