she dreamed of as a teenager. “This is the happiest day because I’m celebrating my 15th birthday,” Casas said, adding that she’d 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 chosen by the Sueños Hechos (Dreams Come True) Foundation for belated birthday celebrations. Quinceañeras are a time-honoured tradition in Latin America, an often lavish celebration that marks a girl’s passage into adulthood when she turns 15. But, for the 29 women – mostly grandmothers – honoured at this party, childhood hardships put any kind of celebration out of reach. They rode in a limousine through the streets of northwestern Bogotá in to lively music, leaning out the car’s open roof to wave excitedly at passersby who recorded them on their phones. “I never rode in anything like that. I’d only seen them in pictures, but I never imagined I’d be in one,” Casas said. “I blew kisses to everyone,” she added with a laugh. (Jamaica Gleaner)