Jaisa
Jaisa (8 months)
Jaisa's mother Florie didn't want to be photographed, like many of the young girls in Casa Alianza's Mothers & Babies programme.
Florie is 16. She comes from a large family of 12 siblings to relatively elderly parents. She was abused by her mother from an early age - at 8 or 9 she left home, and when she returned, was beaten and made to sleep in the hallway of the house. Her father then took her to live with her aunt, who also rejected her, so she went to live with a friend and ended up in petty crime, living on the streets.
She was caught stealing, and ended up in a detention centre, from which she got parole for good behaviour. While on parole she met a gang member and became pregnant by him – but he was killed before Jaisa was born. Florie has a hard time living by the rules of Casa Alianza as she is used to the freedom and self-determination of street life, but she is adjusting, and she now works in the bakery, making bread for the residents.