By Paula Lucas | Founder & Executive Director
Dakota went overseas for a one-year high school study abroad program in France in September 2014. The night before she was flying home to the USA one of the sons of her host family came into her room and raped her. He held a knife to her throat, gagged her and tied her to the bed. Her bedroom was in the basement and the parents room was on the second floor on the other side of the house. She was in shock. This was someone who she trusted. He had befriended here immediately when she arrived in France.
He used a condom, saying no one would believe her that it was not consensual. When he left the room she couldn't even think straight. The next morning he pretended like nothing happened. Like he was still her best buddy. Dakota felt like she was in a nightmare. Her host parents kept asking her if she was okay on the way to the airport. She told them she was just sad because she was leaving.
Dakota called us when she got home. She does not want anyone to know. She is getting counseling thanks to donations like yours. It will take time, but with support, she is going to be okay. She did ask the study abroad program to not send anymore girls to that family, saying it was probably better to send boys because they would have more in common. She doesn't want it to happen to someone else.
By Paula Lucas | Founder & Executive Director
By Paula Lucas | Executive Director
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