The Cidadela das Crianças made me the girl I am today
She is currently 19 years old and dreams of becoming a policeman, she is attending grade 10 at Josina Machel Secondary School. Florinda Flora da Fátima, whose full name was given to her after she arrived at the Children's Town, is a young girl who was taken in at the age of six after getting lost while staying with her grandmother in Manhiça, her home area.
After all, how does a little girl living in the Manhiça district get to the Citadel? As fate would have it, she did not grow up in the arms of her parents, according to her narration.
"I ended up at the Citadel through the 1 de Maio Orphanage where I stayed for a short period of time while the efforts to locate my family were underway. In the beginning it was very difficult to accept living outside the house where I was born, but little by little I got over it, even though I still believe that one day I will find my family again.
"The Citadel welcomed me very well and here I learned a lot of things; today I know how to do a little bit of everything because the day-to-day is a lot of learning together with other boys with similar stories. Very early on, I learned to take care of myself as a person, to wash and do my laundry, to tend vegetable gardens, to paint, to sew, and other common childhood games.