CWS Partner honored as "changemaker"

["Lesley Crosson" <LCrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

CWS Partner honored for work with exploited children in Boca Chica, DR
World of Children Award Recognizes Denisse Pichardo as "changemaker"
 
NEW YORK, NY – November 4. 2011 –  Denisse Pichardo, founder of a
Dominican Republic educational project for children supported by CWS is
the 2011 recipient of an  award that has been called the “Nobel Prize
for child advocates” – an annual honor that includes a cash grant of up
to $50,000 for honorees’ programs. 
 
The World of Children ( http://www.worldofchildren.org/ )advocacy
organization presented its 2011 awards to Pichardo and six other
"changemakers" the organization says have "dramatically transformed the
lives of children around the world," on Wednesday at its 14th Annual
World of Children Awards Ceremony in New York City.  
 
Pichardo, a nun with the Order of the Altagracia, began studying the
issue of sexual tourism and children working in the streets of Boca
Chica, Dominican Republic in 1994.  The sight of foreign tourists with
local children, especially young girls, and extremely poor families
forced to give or sell their children to preying tourists moved her to
establish Caminante Proyecto Educativo (
http://www.worldofchildren.org/index.php/honorees/293 )(Caminante
Educational Project).  The nonprofit works to empower the most
vulnerable youth in the sex tourism center of Boca Chica as well as in
neighboring Haiti and beyond.
 
Together, CWS and Caminante have changed the lives of nearly 13,000
youth affected by sex tourism – preventing the sexual exploitation of
minors, reducing violence in their communities and rescuing and healing
youth affected by commercial sexual exploitation and other traumas.  
 
In an interview following a presentation at CWS's New York City
headquarters Pichardo expressed a desire to expand Caminante's work to
include programs for young adults, ages 18 to 25.  Speaking through an
interpreter, Pichardo explained that young people in the older age group
also are being impacted by sexual tourism, accompanied by "a lot of
violence associated with drug trafficking"
The organization already has taken its expertise beyond the resort town
of Boca Chica.  After the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, Caminante
staff went to Haiti--which shares an island with the Dominican
Republic--to assist CWS in its trauma recovery work with young Haitians.
 A group of five young staffers--two psychologists, two teachers and a
social worker--from Caminante led children in workshops using dance,
music, art and storytelling as part of the healing process for the
traumatized young earthquake survivors.
In announcing the awards to Pichardo and the other honorees, Harry
Leibowitz, World of Children Award co-founder and co-chairman, said, “We
are humbled by the efforts undertaken by these amazing people and it is
our great pleasure to recognize and reward their work on behalf of the
world’s vulnerable children.” 
For Pichardo, the motivation behind that work is simple:
"Every one of them is a child of God.  There is not a child that you
can look at and say that they don't require your protection.  All
children are equal and they all have rights and none of them should
suffer because of their particular circumstance.
 
 
Other 2011 World of Children Award Winners are:
 
Health Award
Dr. Ashok Banskota of Kathmandu, who in 1984 started a small program to
help poor children with disabilities in Nepal and has since grown it
into what is now the Children Hospital and Rehabilitation Center for
Disabled Children ( http://www.hrdcnepal.org/ ),. 
 
YouthAwards
Tatiana Grossman, 16, of Palto Alto, Calif., who founded the nonprofit
organization Spread the Words ( http://www.spreadthewords.us/ )to
increase early literacy by helping children create school libraries in
impoverished communities; Neha Gupta, 15, of Yardley, Pa. who founded
Empower Orphans ( http://www.empowerorphans.org/ ),which works to help
orphaned and underprivileged children gain a b
asic education and become
productive members of society andLuke Lancaster, 16,East Sussex, UK, who
founded The Young Pioneers ( http://www.youngpioneers.org/ ), a
youth-led organization in the United Kingdom whose goal is to “make it
cool to care,” with training programs to equip young people with the
tools and abilities necessary to overcome adversity and lead change. 
 
Advocacy Award
Laura & Harry Slatkin of New York, NY, who co-founded the New York
Center for Autism (NYCA), will receive a non-monetary awardfor their
efforts to improve children’s health. Ms. Slatkin is CEO of NEST
Fragrances and Mr. Slatkin is CEO of Belstaf.
 
Media Contacts
Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, media@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net