Education to Teenage Mothers in Peru
Lily Samuels ’11
Two Smith students, 2,000
books, and two dozen women, victims of sexual violence in
That is the equation that will
add up to new opportunity for teenage mothers at
La Casa de Acogida Mantay, a home for teenage mothers and
their children in Cusco, Peru, situated in one of the country’s
Victoria Henry and 4-month-old
Alexandra, a resident of La Casa de Acogida Mantay.
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Victoria Henry ’12 and Geneviève de Mijolla ’13 are working
together to build a 2,000-book library at the home as a way to provide educational
opportunity to the young women.
“Statistically, a woman is raped
every 20 minutes in Peru," explain Henry and de Mijolla.
"The prevalence of sexual violence leads to a high number
of unwanted pregnancies, particularly in teenage girls. As
of September 2010, 13.7 percent of teenage girls in Peru
were pregnant or were already mothers. The majority of these
teen pregnancies occur among poor, uneducated women, whose
circumstances make them particularly vulnerable to sexual
After childbirth, the options
for young mothers in Peru are limited, due in large part
to a heavy social stigma toward those who become pregnant
as a result of rape. They frequently give up on education
and the possibility of financial independence. Many of the
women and their children are destitute.
Thanks to facilities
like Mantay, the future is not hopeless. The home supports
the women and their children with sustenance, housing, education
and psychosocial support. Currently, 15 women live at the
facility with their children, and another 10 previous residents
visit daily, Henry says.
A model, constructed
by Henry and de Mijolla, of the library they plan
to build in Cusco, Peru.
Beyond the basics, however,
Mantay lacks sufficient resources to provide diverse reading
materials and a designated study area. Henry, an English
major, and de Mijolla, who is majoring in physics and engineering,
plan to change that.
The pair will travel to Peru
this summer to build, stock and organize the library. With
a projected budget of $15,000 (U.S.) (see sidebar above for
donation information), they will create a space that will
facilitate a broad range of educational activities as well
as reflect environmentally sustainable building practices.
“As an English major, I am very passionate about literature and literacy,” says
Henry. “I am infinitely grateful to be at Smith, and I want all women to know
the empowerment that comes from an education.”
The idea for the project, titled “Engineering for Education: A Library for Teenage
Mothers in Peru,” took shape when Henry volunteered at Mantay in summer 2009,
between her first and second years at Smith.
“I couldn't stop thinking about the women of Mantay,” recalls Henry after returning
from her first visit to Peru. “I was amazed by the resilience of the women I
worked with. Many of them were learning to read and write. When asked about their
dreams, nearly all of them said that they wanted to see their children go to
college and/or be professionals. I wanted the mothers to have this chance, too.”
Back at Smith, Henry and de
Mijolla, who were lab partners in the popular course Engineering
for Everyone, taught by Paul Voss, discussed the possibility
of collaborating on the project. They set to planning, finding
ways to show the residents of Mantay how education can transform
“Education has been very important in my own life,” says Henry, “and I think
that education is a powerful tool for women to change their roles in society.”
De Mijolla sees the project
as a way to practically apply what she has learned at Smith. “It offers not only a number of social benefits to the women of Cusco,
but it also offers me a number of scientific and engineering challenges that
I would like to face in ways that respect the environment,” she says.
they intend to bring valuable educational resources to the
women of Mantay, Henry and de Mijolla are aware of what the
project may teach them as well. “These mothers
are younger than we are and have faced so many challenges,” says de Mijolla, “and
yet they still find the strength to be good mothers and strong and inspirational
women. I feel I can learn from them.”