BOGOTÁ – At 72 years young, Rosalba Casas finally had the opportunity to live out her teenage dream on Friday, celebrating her quinceañera in a stunning pink gown and a sparkling tiara.

“Today is the happiest day because I’m celebrating my 15th birthday,” Casas expressed, admitting that she had been too excited to sleep the night before as she anticipated the event.

This occasion marked the first time she experienced the joy of wearing professional makeup, slipping into a formal dress, and enjoying a limousine ride. She shared this special day with 28 other senior women, all selected by the Sueños Hechos (Dreams Come True) Foundation to enjoy a long-awaited birthday celebration.

In Latin America, quinceañeras are a cherished tradition, symbolizing a young girl’s transition into womanhood at 15. However, for these 29 women, who are mostly grandmothers, their own challenging childhoods meant such festivities were never possible.

As they cruised through the streets of northwestern Bogotá in a limousine, lively music filled the air. The women leaned out of the sunroof, joyfully waving at onlookers who captured the moment on their smartphones.

“I had never imagined riding in something like that. I’d only ever seen them in pictures,” Casas remarked. “I blew kisses to everyone,” she added with a hearty laugh, savoring the memory.

Deep inequality means many Colombians miss a rite of passage

Casas said that on her 15th birthday, she didn’t receive a single greeting. It was just another workday for her as a domestic employee in a wealthy Bogotá home, where her mother also worked.

María Isabel Carmona, 71, had a similar story. She recalled her 15th birthday party as a special breakfast of hot chocolate and fried eggs.

“My mother 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 donated its services to the belated quinceañeras.

Even though it’s a very common tradition in Colombia, not all households can afford such a party in a country where the government estimates 31% of the population lives in poverty. The World Bank ranks the country as one of the most unequal in Latin America.

The 29 women stepped out of the limousine onto a red carpet leading into a community hall, where uniformed police officers raised their sabers to form an honor guard for the quinceañeras.

An emotional quinceañera song played in the background: “So fast — already 15 years, it can’t be … please, don’t grow up anymore.”

The women then swapped their shoes for sneakers — a bit more comfortable at their age — and were invited to dance the waltz, first with police officers, then with their husbands, sons and grandsons.

The project began with underprivileged girls

Freddy Alfonso Páez, director of the Sueños Hechos Foundation and a retired police officer, founded the organization five years ago with his two brothers, though they had started offering 15th birthday parties to underprivileged girls a couple of years earlier.

The project expanded to older women when organizers thought of others — like Páez’s own mother — who never had the traditional celebration in their youth.

Páez said the group has held quinceañera parties for older women for the past five years, providing the celebrations to 128 so far.

The Sueños Hechos Foundation holds the annual event with help from sponsors who donate the limousine, food and dresses. The police also lend support, with officers serving as escorts for the guests of honor.

The 29 women at Friday’s celebration, ages 60 to 85, were selected through an open call on social media.

“Many have different health conditions — diabetes, heart issues, leg or hip pain — but when the party begins, they forget all that and just enjoy themselves,” Páez said.