Last month, we told you about how Jacobo Benjamin, an immigrant in a difficult situation, laid a foundation for his family’s success. Because of Jacobo’s diligent savings over the years, his daughter Yasquina became the first person from Batey Margarita to attend university. Since then, her two brothers and eight other young people from the community have followed her example. After earning her medical degree, she returned to her hometown.

When Esperanza International, HOPE’s microfinance partner in the Dominican Republic, first arrived to Batey Margarita in 2006, Jacobo Benjamin was the first of his neighbors to take out a loan. Previously, Jacobo had worked in the nearby sugarcane fields, cutting and processing the crop. But when the processing company announced it was closing, Jacobo knew he would need to find a new a new source of income.

For years, a group of young people has built a reputation for being behind violent attacks in Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo’s capital. “These young people sow terror in the city,” says Ghislaine Matondo, who lives in the city with her husband, mother, and sister. Yet little has been done to address the danger, she explains: “Juvenile delinquency in our neighborhoods is a sensitive matter [to which] even politicians do not dare give concrete answers.”