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At 72, Rosalba Casas finally celebrated her 15th birthday on Friday, wearing a flowing pink dress and a tiara for the quinceañera she dreamed of as a teenager.
“This is the happiest day because I’m celebrating my 15th birthday,” Casas said. She said she stayed up all night thinking about the big day.
It was the first time she wore professional makeup or a formal gown, or rode in a limousine, where she joined 28 other older women selected by the Sueños Hechos (Dreams Come True) Foundation to celebrate a belated birthday.
Quinceaneras are a time-honored tradition Latin AmericaThere is often a grand celebration that marks a girl’s coming of age when she turns 15. But for the 29 women honored at this party — mostly grandmothers — the hardships of childhood put any kind of celebration out of reach.
They rode in a limousine through the streets of northwestern Bogotá amid live music, peering out of the car’s open roof and waving enthusiastically at passersby, who recorded them on their phones.
Casas said, “I’ve never ridden in anything like that. I’d only seen them in pictures, but I never thought I’d be in one.” “I kissed everybody,” he said, laughing.
Deep inequality means many Colombians miss out on acculturation
Casas said that he did not receive a single congratulation on his 15th birthday. It was just another workday for her as a domestic worker in a wealthy household in Bogotá, where her mother also worked.
71-year-old Maria Isabel Carmona had a similar story. He recalled his 15th birthday party as a special breakfast of hot chocolate and scrambled eggs.
“My mom was very poor. There were a lot of us kids, and we lived in a small town. There was no way to celebrate,” Carmona said while getting her makeup done at a beauty academy that, as of late, has donated its services to quinceañeras.
Even though it is a very common tradition in Colombia, not all families can afford such a party, in a country where the government estimates that 31% of the population lives in poverty. world bank The country is ranked as one of the most unequal countries in Latin America.
The 29 women exited the limousine and walked onto the red carpet leading to the community hall, where uniformed police officers raised their sabers to form an honor guard for quinceañeras.
An emotional quinceañera song was playing in the background: “So fast – already 15 years, it can’t be… Please, don’t grow up anymore.”
Then the women changed their shoes for sneakers – a little more comfortable at their age – and were invited to dance a waltz, first with police officers, then with their husbands, sons and grandchildren.
This project started with underprivileged girls
Freddy Alfonso Paez, director of the Suenos Hechos Foundation and a retired police officer, founded the organization with his two brothers five years ago, though he had begun offering 15th birthday parties to underprivileged girls a few years earlier.
When organizers thought about others – like Paez’s own mother – who had never celebrated a traditional celebration in their youth, the project expanded to older women.
Paez said the group has thrown quinceañera parties for older women for the past five years, providing ceremonies for 128 people so far.
The Suenos Hechos Foundation organizes the annual event with the help of sponsors who donate limousines, food and costumes. The police also provide assistance, with officers serving as escorts of the honored guests.
The 29 women aged between 60 and 85 were selected for Friday’s ceremony through an open call on social media.
“Many people have different health conditions — diabetes, heart problems, foot or hip pain — but when the party starts, they forget everything and just have fun,” Paez said.