Boca de Mao, Centro de Trabajo Popular (CTP)


Nine-year-old Andreina Dominguez's grandmother, Andrea Jiminez.
bought her this 20" pink girls' bicycle before Luly even knew how to ride.
"She always asked for a bike, ever since she was seven," said Andrea.
The new bikes in stores were always too expensive.

Luly goes out often on the bike to do errands for her mother and her grandmother.
"In a single morning, she goes out on the bike three times or more", said Andrea.
A trip that took half an hour on foot now takes just five to ten minutes, they said.

Luly lives close to the Taller Internacional. She started practicing riding on the
bikes there. Once she had her own bicycle to learn on, it all clicked.
"One day my cousin gave me a big push, and I just went." Other members of the
family use the bike, too. Both her mother and her four-year -old sister, taking
lessons from Luly, now ride the bike. "The only one left in the family who
still needs to learn", says Luly, "is Grandmonther Andrea."

Centro de Trabajo Popular (CTP) trains Dominican and Haitian youth in bicycle
mechanics and small business skills while supplying affordable transportation to
farmworkers, industrial laborers, and tradespeople in and around Boca de Mao,
north-central Dominican Republic.

Biembo Olivé