During Tuesday’s event, María Belén Ludueña officially presented “Alumbrando Futuro,” a project that aims to accompany and strengthen mothers facing vulnerability while they stay in maternal residences at public hospitals in the City of Buenos Aires.
Accompanied by her husband Jorge Macri and her son Vito, the journalist took part in the official launch at the Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires. For the occasion, she wore an elegant beige satin high-neck dress, nude-colored heels, and her hair pulled back, a formal look appropriate for the presentation.
During the event, Ludueña shared the objectives and the spirit of an initiative that proposes to transform the waiting time that many mothers experience while their children remain hospitalized into an opportunity for learning, support, and growth.
Ludueña’s Message During the Presentation
During the presentation, Ludueña explained how motherhood influenced her bond with this project and why it is a particularly meaningful initiative for her.
“For Alumbrando Futuro, 150 mothers have already passed through and behind each mother there is a story. This project is very special to me because it began while I was pregnant with Vito, and that brought me even closer and helped me understand those mothers a lot,” she explained.
She also detailed how the idea to create this program emerged from conversations she had with women staying in residencies at different public hospitals.
“This initiative arose from talks I was having with mothers who were in maternities, such as Sardá, and in hospital residences, such as Hospital Fernández and Hospital de Niños Pedro de Elizalde, formerly Casa Cuna. Those mothers stay there waiting for their children to recover, going through moments filled with a lot of anguish and uncertainty,” she explained.
In this sense, Ludueña noted that many women remain for long periods in these spaces and that, based on her own experiences, there arose the need to offer them tools that would allow them to make the most of that time.
“There are mothers who spend days, others weeks, and others months. And in those talks they said they had free time. And we can do something or transform that time into something valuable. And that’s when, last year, we began conducting a study with social workers and spoke with the mothers. We asked them what they wanted to do. And that is precisely how the idea of starting to offer trades, of starting to give courses emerged,” she detailed.
The project is designed so that mothers can access training workshops and concrete tools aimed at strengthening their self-esteem, developing new skills, generating income, and planning a future with greater autonomy.
Among the proposals are training in sewing, weaving, makeup, crafts, and using the cellphone as a working tool. It also contemplates digital training, arts and crafts, as well as a hospital support network.
The initiative is developed in collaboration with civil society organizations and seeks to focus on developing capabilities that can be useful beyond the stay in the hospital.
In this way, the objective is that each woman can return home with new tools to navigate, create job opportunities, and advance toward greater economic independence.
In Which Hospitals Will the Program Be Implemented
“Alumbrando Futuro” will be carried out in the Maternal Residences of three public hospitals in the City of Buenos Aires: the Ramón Sardá Maternal and Infant Hospital, the Juan A. Fernández General Hospital, and the Pedro de Elizalde Children’s General Hospital, formerly Casa Cuna.
It is a proposal that seeks to accompany mothers during a stage marked by concern for the health of their children, but also to provide them with a space to learn, develop skills, and find new tools for their future.
