In the week after airing of our feature-length documentary Metropolis: New in the citythe website of Metropolis continues where the broadcast ended.

So, how is Maria doing, the 29-year old mother of two from Colombia?

It seems things have taken a turn for the worse for Maria. Correspondents Alejandro en Leo contacted her after airing of the episode, and they found her in horrible conditions.

Maria hasn’t worked as a prostitute for two months; even doing that she didn’t make enough money to support her kids and pay the rent. She had to leave the house she was living in and now she lives in one of the worst neighborhoods in Bogota, crime-ridden and drug infested. There she lives in the basement of the ‘Old Red Cross’, once a relief station for refugees in the center of Bogota. Deserted by the aid organizations, it is now a hiding place for Maria and the many other displaced persons who live there packed together in small rooms.

This august, the police riot unit have tried to evacuate the terrain, partly to put the many children living at the site under the supervision of Family Welfare, an institution that is supposed to watch over the rights of families and children. The displaced tried to hide their children and used stones and sticks to resist the authorities coming in. Alejandro describes Maria as in shock, and very worried for her kids and what they have had to be through at their young age. To buy food, Maria takes her children to the market every day to beg.

Right now, Maria isn’t very optimistical about the future. but she still hopes there will be a day on which she will have a house again for her and her children.