NPH Mexico: 60 Years of Caring for Children
In the fertile valley that once was the personal property of Hernán Cortés resides an old, converted sugar plantation, Casa San Salvador. This site of 130 acres has served as the main facility for the NPH Mexico family since 1970. Always bustling with activity, over 430 children live, play and study in this village of Miacatlán, which is located 77 miles south of Mexico City. Casa San Salvador facilities are quite extensive and offer a village feel with cobblestone streets, boungainvillea filled archways and a lush landscape. The Casa San Salvador campus includes a pre-school through secondary school, a chapel, dining hall, kitchen, clinic, administration buildings and a farm with chickens, sheep, pigs as well as fruit and vegetable gardens.
An additional 140 students attend the NPH vocational high school in Cuernavaca.
Many will then go on to university in Mexico City or Monterrey. The university program boasts our largest group of higher education students in the entire NPH family-over 75 young adults are enrolled, living in student houses with their NPH peers in the university capital of Monterrey, Mexico. Even farther north, in Matamoros, Mexico, reside more of our extended family. Cuidad de Los Niños, or City of the Children. This home received the first children in 2009 and is now home to 40 children, the majority under age 16. When youths are ready for high school, they move to our home in Cuernavaca. Extracurricular activities are a valuable part of the pequeños' days. Aside from an active sports program, NPH Mexico has a proud tradition of its young people's talent as musicians, folk dancers and Tae Kwon Do athletes. At least once a year, the dance and music troupe travel abroad to the USA, performing their own Ballet Folklórico to raise funds to help support their family. In 2011, the home began investigating and accepting children from the war torn region of Juárez, where many children are abandoned while their parents seek a better life across the border. As of today, 28 children have entered the home and an additional 15 plan to arrive within the year of 2014. NPH Mexico is led by Rafael Bermudez, along with over 240 dedicated staff.
Milestones
| 1954: | Fr. William Wasson met the first pequeño and NPH was born | | 1955: | Hurricane Hilda increases home to 69 boys | | 1959: | Girls joined the family | | 1964: | NPH built its own high school in Cuernavaca | | 1970: | Hacienda San Salvador in Miacatlán, was purchased | | 1971: | High school student home, Casa Buen Señor, was built | | 1979: | Family moved to home in Miacatlán | | | Casa San Luis university student home opens in Monterrey | | 1985: | English program began in Yarnell, Arizona | | 1989: | Fr. Wasson won the Aztec Eagle award | | 1997: | Milpillas garbage dump outreach program began | | 1998: | Lifeteen, a Christian youth group program began | | 2000: | Art therapy program began in Casa San Salvador | | 2005: | First Milpillas university student graduated | | 2007: | Casa Villa’s transitional program in Cuernavaca opened | | 2009: | City of the Children in Matamoros opened | | 2014: | NPH Mexico celebrates 60 years of family life! |
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