An open letter to a special pequeño ...

Taylor Costas recently had the opportunity to travel to NPH Guatemala and meet her godchild.  She had a wonderful visit!  After spending one week getting to know her godchild, Taylor wrote him the following letter.  See what Taylor wrote to her godchild!

My dear, darling Clemente,

It was my ENORMOUS pleasure to spend a week with you at your home at NPH Guatemala. I consider myself blessed to have such an intelligent, hardworking, and most of all kind godchild in my life and to have been able to see where you live, play, and learn every day. Already I miss you deeply, but I look forward to writing you many more of these letters (they won’t all be posted online, I promise) and to having the privilege of seeing you grow up to do wonderful things. But for now, Clemente, would you mind if I share a bit of what we did with our friends on the NPH blog? I hope you will not be embarrassed… It is only because I am bursting to tell everyone of our time together.

I knew I loved you long before I met you. Four months, to be exact. My friends ventured to NPH Guatemala this past spring and chose you to be my ahijado and me, they hoped, your madrina. From your broad smile and bright eyes in the pictures they brought home, I imagined what your laughter would sound like. What I could not have predicted was the warmth with which you would welcome me, the patience with which you would greet my non-existent Spanish skills, or the trust you would offer as willingly as you would place your hand in mine. I guessed (correctly) that you would love whoopee cushions and Hot Wheels cars… but I could never have known that you would share them so freely and gracefully at your young age. (Difficult as it may be to imagine, children where I come from are not always so generous.) I looked forward to meeting your friends… but I could never have dreamed that Kevin, Damián, and Brando would be such funny or such caring “brothers” for you. And while I knew you’d be getting a top-notch education, I could never have foreseen that you would be so clever and responsible. I may be biased, Clemente, but I am impressed. It isn’t hard to see that you have won my heart, and even more quickly and completely than I ever knew possible. I’m so grateful to NPH for welcoming me into the family, and to you for sharing your world with me.

Until next time…

All my love ~ Taylor

I felt so blessed to be a part of this trip...

Below is a testimonial from Teresa Turner who recently visited the NPH home in Mexico with her friends who are godparents to children there. Check out what she had to say about her visit!

In July, I traveled to Cuernavaca with my friend Emma, her family and a small group of other Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos supporters. Emma had told me about the great work done by NPH and I was anxious to gain my own perspective. We planned a short trip, Wednesday to Sunday. But we timed the trip so as to be in Mexico to attend the school graduations. 

The graduations took place on Friday. On Thursday we were able to visit the home in Miacatlan where the children live as well as go to school. Walking into the grounds of the NPH home we met children who knew no strangers, only friends. These children were so happy to have visitors and made us feel welcome in their home. Emma, who had been to the home previously, gave me a tour around the grounds so that I could see where the children slept, went to school, ate, and played. Throughout the tour there were children hard at work completing their chores in anticipation of graduation day. Their attitude was positive and inspiring. I was left with the impression that they were part of one big united family. It was a very different scene than the one that I had pictured. I had incorrectly thought that children separated from their parents could not live a happy life. However, I saw a place where a solid community was founded and consequently a loving environment was provided to these children. 

Friday, we eagerly bused back out to Miacatlan in the morning for the graduation ceremony. The graduation day was wonderful. We sat outside on concrete bleachers that overlooked a sport court. The decorations were perfectly festive. I felt honored as I sat there amongst so many proud parents, supporters, and friends of the gorgeous children graduating. We watched and cheered as the Kindergarten, 6th grade and 9th graders preformed a graduation dance in beautiful authentic Mexican wear. It was a very emotional day for most of the children as they were called individually to accept their diploma from the head of school and each child had their picture taken. One could see from the expressions on the faces of these children’s how special they felt at that moment. The staff and supporters of NPH made this an unforgettable day for these children. 

After the graduation ceremony we preceded to the chapel where mass was celebrated. The mass was beautiful with the children’s choir offering enthusiastic songs. After mass we all shared a meal together and we were again made to feel as though we were part of their family. I felt so blessed to be a part of this trip. I went on the trip thinking I would be seeing things like a tourist but I came away realizing that these children need much more than that from us, they need loving friends. The distance between us is not as great as it may appear on a map.

An Invitation from Billy Jean

"My name is Billy Jean. God gave me the opportunity to grow up in the NPH home in Haiti. Now, I stay involved with this wonderful family to give to other children the same opportunities that I had. I am studying law in Haiti, and hopefully after I graduate, I will move to America for a master’s degree. Over the summer, I am in Pennsylvania volunteering at a family camp, the YMCA in Deer Valley. When I was a child, many Americans used to come to my orphanage and dedicate a year of their life to volunteer and take care of us, so today, I have decided to volunteer in America, to give back to this wonderful country and its people. It is just a small way I chose to contribute, and I do it with great love in my heart. I invite you to meet me at a cocktail event in Miami, Florida on August 27th; in fact it will be my privilege to meet you there and share with you how NPH has changed my life. Come see how our family is raising thousands of children and transforming their lives. I hope I will meet you there, wishing you the best in your life. God bless you and thank you."

Learn more about the event on our website here: www.friendsoftheorphans.org/billyjean

Visiting Ovidio

Great Friend, Jenna Bishop, was the winner of the Godparent’s Month trip giveaway! Below is what she had to say:

My name is Jenna, and I am the excited winner of this year's trip give-away! I originally began supporting NPH about five years ago after hearing about it from a close friend. We were in college at the time and so decided to split the monthly sponsorship fee in order to support a godchild together. What a sweet experience it has been! Fast forward to Easter 2013: After seeing a picture of my "godchild," my brother started asking questions about the organization. It did not take much convincing for him to decide to sponsor a pequeno of his own. I encouraged him to sign up the very next month (May) for National Godparent's Month. When I first found out that I had been selected as the trip winner, I was overcome with disbelief and an overwhelming sense of gratitude - gratitude to my brother for entering my name, gratitude to the organization for sponsoring this trip, and gratitude to God for answering prayers. I have been talking about traveling with NPH for months, and those dreams have finally become a reality! I look forward to traveling to NPH Honduras and hope that more godparents will be encouraged to do the same! 

Here is Ovidio, the little boy Jenna sponsors at NPH!

Project Linus

We would like to extend our gratitude to The Greater Boston Chapter of Project Linus for sending down bundles of homemade blankets, hats, and other knit items to our Nuestros Pequenos Hermanso (NPH) homes in Honduras, Haiti, and Nicaragua this year. With so many “brothers and sisters,” our children are overjoyed to have something they can truly call their own. 

Project Linus is an organization committed to providing children who are ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need with blankets and afghans lovingly created by volunteers. Nancy Kearns, a Greater Boston Chapter Coordinator, says that one of the best things about being a part of their organization is the wonderful people she has met which span across religions, cultures, and generations. Volunteers range from brownie girl scouts to retirees looking for something to be a part of. 

Nancy first heard about NPH and the network of orphanages that they support through a local Irish Hearts for Haiti event supporting our NPH home in Haiti last year. Nancy wanted to help support our NPH children by offering them beautifully knit items made by Project Linus volunteers, that the children can use and snuggle up with. Orchard Cove, a retirement community in Canton, Mass., has a group of retirees that meet on a weekly basis to contribute their time and talent to the mission of Project Linus. For some of these volunteers, their passion for the organization stems from being on the receiving end. One of the women in the Orchard Cove group said that she had had an ill three-month-old daughter in the hospital who was given a Project Linus blanket. She added that she was happy that she was now able to help provide blankets to children in similar situations, and through their connections with NPH, can now provide blankets to children all over the world. 

When shown pictures of pequenos in Honduras proudly wearing the hats and showing off the blankets that the group knit, the volunteers could not help but to smile and comment on how cute the children were. One of the knitters said, “I’m so glad I’m doing something for someone that desperately needs it.” NPH would like to thank Project Linus for their continued support.