Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos Visits TG

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Marie Clysdale hanging out with kids in the NPH program

Muny Ngigi, Reporter

The Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos program (NPH) is a global organization that assists orphans. The NPH is located across the Americas in various countries such as Bolivia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haití, Honduras, México, Perú, and Nicaragua. This past summer, students from Totino-Grace spent time in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Activities students participated in included spending time and helping out with kids at the orphanage. Recently, kids from the house in Cuernavaca, Mexico came to visit us here at TG.

The most common reasons a kid will end up in the NPH program will be for one of the two reasons, the unfortunate loss of parents, or never being able to know their parents. This program was started in 1954 by Father William Wasson in Cuernavaca, Mexico. A boy was arrested for stealing from the charity box of a church, Father Wasson could not find it in himself to press charges on the kid so instead, he asked for custody of the boy. By the end of that year, Father Wasson had been trusted 32 kids and the house adopted the name Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos. Today, the NPH has 9 houses across the Americas and has over 18,300 kids in their trust.

Junior Claire Schumacher tells us “The NPH came into my religion class and told us about their daily lives, they enjoy playing soccer, going out to eat, and hanging out with their friends. ” Junior Michael Kovalik tells us, “We think that just because the kids live in a different country than us they lead such different lives, but really they’re still kids and we all go through the same things and enjoy the same activities.”

Kids from TG went on a Spanish Excursion trip to the house in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Marie Clysdale who was a junior at the time says that “ I played marbles with children while everyone was playing soccer with middle school girls. It was a great experience and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”