NPH
™
Mission
History
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos International is a
charitable organization serving poor, orphaned,
abandoned or other especially needy children with
homes throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
Our mission is to provide homes in which the
children receive food, clothing, health care and
education in a Christian family environment based on
the principles of unconditional acceptance and love,
sharing, work and responsibility. NPHI is committed
to assuring the best possible care for those children
through direct programs, through service to other
caregivers and support organizations, and through
direct engagement with the community in which the
children live.
A worldwide community of donors, staff and
volunteers enables NPHI to help the children become
caring and productive citizens in their countries.
In 1954, a hungry, homeless boy was arrested for
stealing from the poor box of a small church in
Cuernavaca, Mexico. The young priest in charge,
Father William Wasson of the United States, was
unwilling to press charges; instead he asked for
custody of the boy. By year’s end, there were
32 children in residence and Nuestros Pequeños
Hermanos (NPH), Spanish for “Our Little Brothers
and Sisters,” was born. Girls joined the NPH family
in 1959, and by 1963 nearly 400 children called NPH
home. As the NPH model demonstrated success and
gained respect, social service agencies and advocates
for children referred more and more orphans to
the home.
Since then, NPH has given more than 15,000 children
that same second chance — the opportunity not
just to survive, but to thrive. Today NPH has homes
in nine countries: Bolivia, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and The
Dominican Republic. Overall, we care for over 3,500
children in a loving, secure environment.
Our Supporters
::: Over the past 40 years, several organizations in the United States, Canada,
Europe and Mexico, have offered their support to NPH. These groups raise
funds, write grants, arrange tours to the homes, organize special fundraising
events and monitor sponsorship programs to help the children.
::: Each organization is administered by a volunteer Board
of Directors and maintains a nonprofit status in its
jurisdiction. If you would like to become a part of this worldwide network of supporters, contact us at
[email protected] or visit our website at www.nph.org
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
México
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 1,972,550 sq km
Population: 109,955,400 (July 2008)
Languages: Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and
other regional indigenous languages.
Issues: Lack of clean water, deforestation, and serious
air and water pollution in Mexico City and urban
centers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 1954
Children: 942, including 108 who commute from the
Milpillas garbage dump.
Location: The main home is 27 miles southwest of
Cuernavaca. The older youths attend school and live
in Cuernavaca, or Monterrey, in the north of Mexico.
Features: Primary and secondary schools, clinic,
chapel, swimming pool, Bachillerato (technical high
school) in Cuernavaca, and farms for livestock,
produce and fish.
Did You Know?
::: The main home, Casa San Salvador, is on an
old, converted sugar plantation where over 600
children live.
::: The pequeños’ day begins at 5:30 a.m. and ends
at 9:15 p.m.
::: The main meal of the day is served at 2 p.m.
::: Rafael Bermudez, the National Director, and many
staff are former pequeños.
::: An outreach program started in 1999 offers an
education, food and medical care to children who
live at Milpillas, the garbage dump for Cuernavaca.
They are bused to Miacatlán where they receive
food and a shower before joining the rest of the
NPH children in school. As these children must
help their families earn a living at the dump, they
return at the end of each school day to Milpillas.
::: A dance and music troupe travels abroad to
Canada, Europe and the USA to spread their
message of hope.
::: Children do not receive presents on Christmas, but
on the Feast of Three Kings (January 6) instead.
Three older pequeños dress as the kings and
deliver gifts and bags of candy to all the children.
::: A 400-year-old tradition, Día de los Muertos (Day
of the Dead) on November 2, is celebrated with a
special mass and food offerings to loved ones who
have died.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
Honduras
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 112,090 sq km
Population: 7,639,327 (July 2008)
Languages: Spanish, Amerindian dialects.
Issues: Uncontrolled development, improper land use
and pollution of Lago de Yojoa (the country’s largest
source of fresh water).
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 1986
Children: 529
Location: One hour northeast of Tegucigalpa, the
nation’s capital.
Features: Pre-school through secondary school,
vocational workshops, clinics, chapel, farm and
gardens.
Special homes: Casa de Los Angeles for disabled
children and Casa Eva for elderly adults who have no
family to care for them. Casa Pasionista, a hospice for
adults who are living in the final stages of AIDS, is
located on the NPH property.
Did You Know?
::: The pequeños live in group homes, called hogares,
according to age and maturity. Casa Suyapa, the
only co-ed house, is for children up to the age
of seven.
::: Most of the fixtures and furniture are made by
pequeños in the vocational workshops.
::: The farm produces over 1,400 eggs and 67 gallons
of milk per day. Almost all of the vegetables are
grown on-site.
::: The children at Casa de Los Angeles participate in
horseback riding therapy and Special Olympics.
::: Quinceañeros celebrations commemorate the
entrance into adulthood. NPH celebrates with a
special evening mass, dinner and a fiesta/dance for
all 15-year-old boys and girls.
::: Olimpiadas (Olympics) are held each summer.
All pequeños, volunteers and staff participate in
two days of fun, collaborative play and
competitive sports.
::: Started in 1999, the Follow-up Program for
pequeños helps young adults who have left
NPH with moral support, legal assistance, career
counseling and loans for small business and higher
education and medical expenses.
::: The external clinic located on NPH grounds sees
over 400 local people per month.
::: Over 40 students participate in vocational
internships in various businesses
throughout Honduras each year.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
Haití
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 27,750 sq km
Population: 8,924,553 (July 2008)
Languages: French, Creole
Issues: Poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,
80% of the population lives below the poverty line,
frequent natural disasters.
Home Facts at a Glance
Nos Petit Frères et Soeurs (NPFS) has three distinct
facilities: St. Hélène, a permanent home for orphaned
and abandoned children; Kay Père Wasson or The
Father Wasson Center, a former pediatric hospital
now used for administration, rehabilitation and
educational purposes; and a pediatric hospital called
St. Damien Châteaublond.
Opened: 1987
Children: 623, including 175 supported externally.
Location: The main home is 25 miles from
Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital, in Kenscoff.
St. Hélène is on 15 acres 5,000 feet above sea level.
Kay Père Wasson is in Pétionville, and St. Damien
Hospital is in Châteaublond, near the capital.
Features: St. Hélène has 19 residential cottages,
an amphitheatre, chapel, farm and a primary and
secondary school.
Did You Know?
::: A program started in 2003, provides financial
support to youths when they leave the home to
begin living on their own.
::: All furniture is made at the NPH home.
::: In 1998, 10 years after joining NPFS, National
Director Fr. Rick Frechette earned a medical
degree. He is a general practitioner licensed in
New York and Florida.
::: The Father Wasson Center in Pétionville, now
houses accounting, a physiotherapy/rehabilitation
program for children with developmental
disabilities, a job training and program for
ex-pequeños teaching them management skills
and it is also used to accommodate visitors.
::: After 20 years in the Pétionville location, a new
larger hospital, St. Damien, was inaugurated in
December 2006 in Châteaublond. It is considered
the preeminent pediatric hospital in the country,
serving thousands of children.
::: A 2,300 square meter Rehabilitation and
Physiotherapy Center is being constructed adjacent
to the new hospital.
::: In 2007, more than
30,000 people, both
NPH children and
children and adults
from the surrounding
area, were treated at
the hospital and
Fr. Wasson Center.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
Nicaragua
NPH
™
Country Facts
Did You Know?
Area: 129,494 sq km
::: Many of the children are war orphans.
Population: 5,785,846 (July 2008)
::: The curriculum for pre-school students
(ages three to seven) consists of English and
Spanish, reading, math, music, religion, and
physical education.
Languages: Spanish; English and indigenous
languages on Atlantic Coast.
Issues: Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, extremely
susceptible to hurricanes, deforestation, soil erosion
and water pollution.
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 1994
Children: 321
Location: Children age seven and under live at Casa
Asis on the mainland. Casa Santiago, the main home,
is on Ometepe Island, a one-hour ferry ride from the
mainland. Due to an earthquake and volcanic activity
on Ometepe Island, property on the mainland, located
in Santa Teresa, Carazo, 45 minutes southwest of
Managua, was secured for the future home. A well has
been dug and four houses have been built.
::: Dozens of students from the surrounding
community attend the primary and secondary
school located on the island.
::: For recreation, the children play sports, learn the
folkloric dances of the region, and swim or play on
the lake’s shore.
::: Two houses with a capacity for 30 people, are
rented in the capital for higher education students.
::: Casa Asis, Casa Santiago and Casa San Marcos each
have gardens for growing vegetables and fruits.
::: The farm at Casa San Marcos covers 65 acres and is
a major source of food for the children.
::: Casa Asis has two solar-powered ovens and a
windmill that supplements the garden irrigation.
::: The girls’ soccer team won local, state and national
titles and competed in the Central American
championship in Panama in 2006. They also won
the NPH soccer tournament in El Salvador in
December 2007.
::: In January 2007, seven volunteers from Europe,
arrived to form a team of therapists and implement
the Special Education Services program.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
Guatemala
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 108,890 sq km
Did You Know?
Population: 13,002,206 (July 2008)
::: The school year in Guatemala is January through
October.
Languages: Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages
40% (more than 20 Amerindian languages, including
Quiche, Mam, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, and Xinca).
::: The NPH school offers pre-school through grade
nine. After completing a year of service, pequeños
may continue on to high school at a local facility.
Issues: Devastation of 35 years of civil war,
deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution and
hurricane damage.
::: Summer school courses are offered in November
and December and include sports, drawing,
painting, reinforcement lessons and guitar.
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 1996
Children: 343
Location: In San Andres, 16 miles from Antigua and
an hour northwest of Guatemala City, the capital.
Features: Approximately 25 acres of land, Montessori
pre-school through junior high school, clinic,
computer lab, vocational workshops,
bakery, farm, gardens and a
solar water heating system.
::: All students learn basic computer functions and
administrative software.
::: In 2008, five youths are studying at the
university level.
::: The Therapy Department consists of Occupational,
Speech, Art and Physiotherapy, serving over
170 children.
::: Birthdays are celebrated every two months, usually
with trips to a nearby water park or to the ocean
which is three hours away.
::: During Semana Santa “Holy Week” people create
beautiful and vibrant Alfombras “carpets” directly
on the streets with multi-colored saw chippings. In
downtown Antigua, thousands of people, including
the pequeños, watch processions walk over the
one-of-a-kind carpets. At NPH, each grade designs
and makes an Alfombra. Prizes are awarded for the
best design.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
El Salvador
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 21,040 sq km
Population: 7,066,403 (July 2008)
Languages: Spanish, Nahua (among some
Amerindians)
Issues: Still devastated after a 12-year civil war, very
high rate of violence and crime; deforestation, soil
erosion, water pollution and earthquakes.
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 1999
Children: 462
Location: Near the border of Guatemala in
Texistepeque. It is about 30 miles to San Salvador,
the capital.
Features: School, vocational workshops, clinic, chapel,
houses for boys, girls and the babies.
Did You Know?
::: The school offers pre-kindergarten through junior
high and has 370 students. It has an art room, an
in-house psychologist and a computer lab.
::: An “Open Classroom” was implemented to serve
the youths that arrive with no previous education.
::: There are weekly creative classes, such as arts and
crafts, choir and dance.
::: In November 2007, the home inaugurated a new
chapel, Divine Savior, which seats 700 people.
::: The pequeños’ day begins at 5 a.m. and ends
at 8 p.m.
::: 25 pequeños age six and up belong to a choir and
music group that play and sing at local venues.
::: A folkloric dance group performs regularly at
public events.
::: Birthdays are celebrated every month with special
food and an excursion. Quinceañeras is celebrated
once a year with a party and dance for the youths
that turn 15.
::: Seven students are enrolled at the university level
for 2008.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
República
Dominicana
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 48,730 sq km
Population: 9,507,133 (July 2008)
Languages: Spanish, English widely spoken.
Issues: Water shortages, soil erosion, deforestation,
lies in the middle of the hurricane belt. 42% of the
population lives below the poverty line (2004).
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 2003
Children: 161
Location: Outside of San Pedro de Macorís, about 40
miles east of Santo Domingo, the nation’s capital and
largest city.
Features: The home is 200,000 square meters of land,
25,000 of which were donated by the Bishop of San
Pedro. 15 children’s homes, primary school, gardens.
The home is in the process of constructing a
secondary school and clinic.
Did You Know?
::: Construction on Casa Santa Ana, the permanent
home, began in September 2004.
::: 13 children’s houses, a volunteer house, kitchen
and preschool were completed in 2006.
::: The secondary school building and clinic are under
construction.
::: Begun in 2004, Project Green now provides
plantain, yucca, papaya, eggplant, onions, squash,
okra, sweet potato, beans, chile peppers, passion
fruit, oregano and cilantro.
::: The staff and children helped build 20 homes in a
hurricane effected area.
::: The clinic is currently under construction with
plans to include rooms for: general consults,
pediatrics, odontology, physical therapy, in-patient
housing, a laboratory and pharmacy, a full office
and rooms for the nurses.
::: For summer courses, the children participate in arts
and crafts, sports, and games.
::: The Feast of Three Kings (January 6) is celebrated
more than Christmas Day and is the anniversary of
the NPH home.
::: For Las Mañanitas (December
18-23), the pequeños,
caregivers and people in the
community proceed through
the streets singing Christmas
songs. They stop at designated
houses to read the Christmas
story and enjoy hot ginger tea
and cookies.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
Perú
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 1,285,220 sq km
Population: 29,180,899 (July 2008)
Languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, and many
minor Amazonian languages.
Issues: Earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, landslides,
mild volcanic activity, civil war and pollution.
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 2004
Children: 40
Location: Currently in rented accommodations near
Lima, the capital. Property has been acquired in
nearby Cañete, for the permanent site, Ciudadela
Santa Rosa de Lima. Construction of the basic
infrastructure has begun.
Did You Know?
::: 63% of Peruvian children ages six-eleven are
living in poverty and 27% of children ages
newborn to five-year-old are suffering from
chronic malnutrition.
::: Peru is the first country in South America to have
an NPH home.
::: The move to the new rented property (previously a
hotel complex) in Lunahuaná-Cañete was a journey
of over 1,000 kilometers.
::: Alfredo Hernandez, the National Director is a
former pequeño.
::: All of the children are referred by government
agencies.
::: One of the first families to arrive was a set of
eight-year-old triplets and their sister.
::: The school year begins in mid-March and
the children attend local schools. Many had
never been to school prior to joining NPH.
::: The home received its first
volunteers from Europe in 2007,
enriching our program for the
benefit and wellbeing of the
children.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
Bolivia
NPH
™
Country Facts
Area: 1,098,580 sq km
Population: 9,247,816 (July 2008)
Languages: Spanish, Quechua, Aymara
Issues: One of the poorest and least developed South
American countries. 64% of the population live below
the poverty line (2004).
Home Facts at a Glance
Opened: 2005
Children: 59
Location: 80 km north of Santa Cruz the home is
named Casa Padre William B. Wasson. It is located
outside the town of Portachuelo. The new home site
now consists of a dining hall and six children and
staff homes.
Did You Know?
::: Bolivia was named after independence fighter
Simon Bolivar.
::: Since 1825 there have been nearly 200 coups and
countercoups.
::: Bolivia is the second country in South America to
have a Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos home.
::: Germán Mercado, the National Director, is a
former pequeño and Kara King, a former U.S.
volunteer, is the House Director.
::: The construction of the new home site began in
November 2006. In August 2007, the first phase of
construction was completed.
::: Six siblings, who were abandoned by their mother
and a family of five, including an infant, whose
mother died in childbirth, were the first children
welcomed to the home.
::: Over the next several years, Casa
Padre Wasson hopes to include more
children’s homes, staff and volunteer
housing, school, chapel and clinic.
::: A group of pequeños
formed a service oriented
program called, Mi Voz,
Se Escucha, “my voice is
heard”. Events include
donating their time to
local homes, orphanages,
neighborhoods, churches,
and schools.
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™ Internacional
México
Honduras
Haití
Nicaragua
Guatemala
El Salvador
República
Dominicana
Perú
Bolivia
© 2008. All rights reserved.
Opened: 1954
Number of children: 942
Features: Primary, secondary and technical schools, clinic, chapel and farm.
An outreach program serves over 100 children from a nearby garbage dump.
Opened: 1986
Number of children: 529
Features: Pre-school through secondary education, vocational workshops, chapel,
farm and gardens, clinics, special homes for disabled children and elderly adults.
Opened: 1987
Number of children: 623
Features: Primary and secondary school, chapel, farm,
physiotherapy/rehabilitation center and Haiti’s only free pediatric hospital.
Opened: 1994
Number of children: 321
Features: Island home has primary school, clinic, chapel, farm, vocational
workshops. Mainland babies home has pre-school and kindergarten.
Opened: 1996
Number of children: 343
Features: Pre-school through secondary school, clinic, chapel, computer lab,
farm and solar water heating system.
Opened: 1999
Number of children: 462
Features: Kindergarten through secondary school, vocational workshops,
clinic, chapel and farm.
Opened: 2003
Number of children: 161
Features: 15 family style children’s homes, pre-school and primary school and
gardens. Clinic and secondary school under construction.
Opened: 2004
Number of children: 40
Features: Currently in rented accommodations in Lunahuana, 1-1/2 hours from
Lima. The permanent site will be in Cañete.
Opened: 2005
Number of children: 59
Features: Newly constructed dining hall and six family style children’s homes.