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12 Year-Old Mothers

Everyday in Buenos Aires, babies are born to girls as young as twelve-years-old. Many births are the result of rape. Some girls choose to become pregnant as a way to deter the rapists.

Ciudad Oculta – The Hidden City of Buenos Aires

In 1978 the Argentine government built a wall around the city’s worst slum to hide it from the press visiting for soccer’s World Cup. Life within the wall got far worse as criminal gangs took control. Soon even police and fire fighters refused to enter. This walled-in neighborhood became Ciudad Oculta, the Hidden City. It is now one of the world’s worst slums.

A Dream Comes To Life

A group of volunteers is breaking this cycle of poverty and teen birth. They founded a free daycare/early education center called Sueñitos, Little Dreams.
With teachers from the City Department of Education, Sueñitos opened in 2008. The center provides thirty-five children with dedicated teachers, a mid-day meal, a safe, loving environment for growth, and – most important of all – a window to another world beyond the wall.

This is The Beginning

We know it is just the start. We know we need a Safe House for battered mothers and their children. We know we need to establish a pre-kindergarten to serve our three-year-old graduates who have no place to go when their time with us is over. We know we need to provide job training for the parents as well as a job placement service. But most of all, we already have eighty kids on our waiting list who need what we are already doing.

The Next Step

We need your help to expand our building to serve as many of the kids on our waiting list as we can.