Karla's Arrival

World-wide, 75 million adolescent girls live out on the streets. Most of them have their first child before they’re eighteen. Suidgeest follows the homeless teenager Sujeylin. She and her boyfriend Juan Carlos live in a park in Managua, Nicaragua. Now that she’s pregnant, they hope for a better life for their baby. When their daughter Karla is born, they urgently look for a job and home. But the circumstances thwart their efforts; apartments are too expensive, Juan Carlos uses drugs and most of the street children and drifters in the park, a close-knit bunch, are also addicted. As this environment is unsafe for children, baby Karla can be taken from her young mother any moment. Although Sujeylin could use some help from her family, the shame of her current lifestyle is too deep. Moreover, she has a complicated relationship with her mother. The very serious, slightly timid Sujeylin soberly explains in the voice-over how she tries to survive. Suidgeest follows the young and struggling family without any comment, for fifteen months.