Basic Street Girls

I have a friend Ana who is volunteering at a group called Basics. It helps prostitutes and young mothers get somewhat of an education. Unfortunately the organization can't fund the girls enlistment in public schools, but they have their own schools where volunteers teach. Ana is currently teaching a fifteen year old mother how to write the letter N. Listen to Ana talk about her experiences at Basics I can't help but make a connection to my own volunteering. The effects are so obvious. Ana is working with the teenage prostitutes and I am working with their attention deprived children. Many people find fault in the mothers, leaving their children in these unwatched slums that try to call themselves a 'day care.' I sympathize with the mothers, I can not blame them. I've watched the mothers tearing themselves away from their screaming children, waving goodbye as they lock them in the courtyard. They need money to provide what little they can for their children, and they do it any way they can. Their children need food more than they need attention.