No matter age or native language, the pequeños and host families always connect in an extraordinary way that will never be forgotten...

The below blog post is written by Olivia Stephani​, a high school student in Chicago who spent the summer interning at our Midwest Regional Office!

At the height of the Windy City’s unpredictable, frigid weather, 13 pequeños from NPH Mexico flew into Chicago for their musical pequeño tour. Chaperoned by a former pequeño, they were ready for 3 weeks of singing and dancing performances at various locations, including Jones College Prep: a high school located right in the heart of downtown Chicago. 

Soon after they arrived, the pequeños were whisked from the airport to meet up with their first of three different host families. It is with these host families that they would be staying with throughout their visit; the pequeños are temporarily taken into the homes of generous host families and treated as part of that family.

Opening the doors of her home to the pequeños for the second year in a row, Janet Pasquesi was ecstatic “to be around the life” that the girls and boys bring. While hosting during this musical pequeño tour in spring 2019, Janet had many fun activities planned. Together with the girls she hosted during the first week of the tour, she visited The Art Institute of Chicago, looked at Lake Michigan, and went out to dinner in the near suburbs. However, it was at this dinner--among other places--where they ran smack into what may seem to be a daunting obstacle: the language barrier. Most host families, including Janet, do not speak Spanish, and the pequeños speak little to no English; despite this, new ways to communicate are always formed. Whether it was sign language or online resources, there was always a way to talk. At this particular dinner, Janet requested a waiter that spoke Spanish and found herself and her daughter relying on Google translate.

Commenting on the closeness of all the pequeños, Janet explains how she had two separate rooms for the two girls she hosted, yet by the morning they were in the same bed. During her second week, she hosted three boys who she saw “picked up bits of English quickly.” One of these pequeños fell sick, and Janet’s son immediately set the sick boy up with some food and a television show to keep him occupied. Even with one of the boys feeling under the weather, this allowed them to bond even more. 

In addition to their own fun, all the host families and pequeños went to fun events as a group. They held a lively pizza party where Janet says, “Everybody had a great time.” With phrases like “full of life,” “extremely organized,” and “appreciative,” Janet paints the picture of the fun, polite guests that added an extra level of soul to her home for two weeks that sped by. During the third week of their tour, Janet was not hosting; however, she found herself requesting to spend even more time with the pequeños.

No matter age or native language, the pequeños and host families always connect in an extraordinary way that will never be forgotten. In the words of host Tricia Dill, “Learning their [the pequeños’] stories and spending time with them touched our hearts in a way that will make us forever supporters of NPH.”

Volunteering Comes Full Circle

The 2018 Midwest Pequeño Tour was amazing again this year! We welcomed 12 pequeños from NPH Guatemala, mostly university students or those completing their year of service at the home, and for three weeks they traveled throughout the greater Chicago area to perform traditional music and dance from their country at various churches, schools, and businesses, helping our Midwest Region to raise funds and awareness for NPH!

About two weeks in, we decided to schedule a morning at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) in Libertyville, IL. We wanted to switch things up for the group from the daily venue visit. We thought we could all do something to help others together and give back because after all, many hands make light work! What better place to do so than at FMSC, which has set out to feed God’s starving children hungry in body and spirit. Little did they know, better yet, little did WE know, that we were bringing twelve individuals from Guatemala who’d been served by the kind graces of the hard-working hands behind FMSC.

It wasn’t until the group spotted the MannaPack meal that they realized they were helping those who’d provided some of their meals as children growing up at NPH Guatemala! 

 

“Seeing it firsthand at the place they made it for us was such an amazing experience,” David (left) said. “Just the way they prepare it is great to see. I can see the hard work they do and all the passion behind it.”

This moment of realization set in for the whole group and gave everyone a little extra fire in their heart that morning to create as many meals for starving children as they could in two hours. By the time the session ended, enough meals were made to feed 44 kids daily for an entire year! FMSC has a tradition of blessing the food before it is shipped off to countries around the world. The Pequeños took part in this as well before declaring it ready to ship.

“I was working really hard and tried to pack as many boxes as I could,” Jacinto (third from the left) said. “For me, it was a great experience because I could help an organization that helped me before and is still helping my little brothers and sisters at NPH."

Needless to say, our Guatemalan visitors had a wonderful experience volunteering with FMSC in Libertyville. Seeing the impact that they had on the employees of FMSC was also quite powerful. Seeing the joy in their faces and the tears in their eyes was just an added testament to the hard work that is put into this organization and the care they have for feeding the hungry. 

It was really a beautiful coincidence that we brought our Guatemalan visitors to volunteer at FMSC that morning. Thank you to FMSC for all that you do to help serve the children of NPH and to feed the hungry all over the world!

 

 

 

 

 

Bringing “First Moments” to Donors and Sponsors as They Visit NPH Homes

Below is a reflection written by Gaby Driessen, Regional Manager of Child Sponsorship in NPH USA’s Midwest office, about the wonders of introducing new visitors to NPH homes for the first time. 

I directed my first trip to NPH nearly three years ago, so my first NPH visit experiences are long gone.  I don’t feel the nervousness of driving into NPH for the first time; rather, I feel comfort and familiarity.  I do not get anxious about meeting the pequeños for the first time; rather, I feel excited to see them again and pick up right where we left off a few months ago.  I do not get to fall in love with NPH for the first time; rather, I continue to fall more and more in love with the organization and its people.  Since I no longer have those “first moments” when I visit a NPH home, bringing new donors and sponsors to visit one of the NPH homes is, in my opinion, the best part of working for NPH USA.  To witness someone step onto NPH grounds for their first time, build meaningful relationships with the pequeños, and feel so at ease and at home is so remarkable.  With each trip that I lead, I am given the unique opportunity to see the light flicker in someone else’s eyes when they realize that by visiting NPH they are helping break the cycle of poverty.

In a recent trip to NPH Guatemala, I asked the trip participants to share their “aha!” moments.  What about NPH has surprised you the most?  What has made you realize the importance of you visiting NPH?  What has been your favorite moment thus far?  One participant, who was visiting NPH for his first time, shared that his “aha!” moment was when he realized that NPH is the Kingdom of God.  His answer left me speechless.  My entire education, kindergarten all the way through college, had been in Catholic schools, so at a remarkably young age I had been taught that the Kingdom of God was Heaven.  One high school religion teacher liked to say for those of different faiths, “The Kingdom of God is a place where love is all around.”  The trip participant went on to explain his reasoning for believing that NPH is the Kingdom of God – he witnessed Fr. Wasson’s pillars of unconditional love, shared responsibility and helping others in every child, caregiver, teacher, nurse, gardener, international volunteer, visitor, donor, and sponsor.  He explained that he had never seen so much love in one place, and, in his opinion, all this love could only mean that NPH is the Kingdom of God.  Throughout the rest of the week, I kept an eye out for Kingdom of God moments. 

On the last day of the trip, the youngest boys section walked past me, each boy carrying a large garbage bag filled with folded clothes.  When I asked where they were going with all the bags of clothes, they explained that they were walking into town to donate the clothes to those in need.  All of sudden that lesson from my sophomore high school religion class of love being all around made sense, as did the trip participant’s “aha!” moment; there, in the midst of the Guatemalan highlands, with a volcanic and mountainous background, on the grounds of a place that provides a home, healthcare and education for approximately 300 children, I was standing amongst a group of nine-year-old boys who were, and are, living the Kingdom of God.  

We are rewarded and receive far more from the children than we can possibly give to them.

Scott Lane, great Friend and Sponsor, shares his thoughts about his latest trip visiting the pequeños of  NPH Nicaragua! The children are truly amazing, and you can get the chance to meet them when they visit the states on their upcoming tour to the Midwest. Learn more here!

Reflecting on our third trip to the NPH home in Nicaragua, I am once again reminded of the faithful, loving community that is for us indeed our extended family there. We are surely ‘one and holy’ as a Church at NPH Nicaragua. 

The preparations for Semana Santa were in full gear the week we were at the home. We participated in Stations of the Cross and Sunday Mass. These were of course as familiar to us as if we were at home in Chicago. We were further blessed to participate in the pilgrimage to the National Sanctuary of Jesus Del Rescate in Popoyuapa. 

We were amazed by all the changes from the previous year. The home now has a full time, resident priest from Spain. We renewed and deepened existing relationships with Angela, the nurse from Switzerland; and made new ones with Tina, the art therapist from Holland, and Lilly and Verena, the occupational therapists from Austria. In the past year, the home has completed the school building, computer lab, a large and modern clinic, two additional houses, and a fabulous guest house. 

This amazing amount of work and progress are only possible through the generous support of dear Friends of the Orphans from around the world. So many people are making a significant difference, and we are privileged to witness such faithful, loving support transforming lives child by child exactly as Father Wasson envisioned. 

And, yes, that brings me to the centerpiece of all the effort, support, and love - the pequeños. Everyone’s efforts are laser focused on the love, care, and development of the children at the home. While it’s hard work, it is such a joyful and fulfilling mission to be a part of. It is a highlight of our year to once again meet with our two goddaughters and their friends. We are rewarded and receive far more from the children than we can possibly give to them. 

Our friends ask us if we are on a ‘Mission Trip’ by which they mean building homes and other such worthy causes. We build relationships, provide support, play games, lend a hand, teach English, help with homework, and live our faith by trying to do many small things with great love. Love does conquer all and that love, every day, starts with the tias and tios that care for the children. They are at the front lines of everything that happens in the NPH family. The transformation of our children’s lives begins with them. They truly amaze and inspire us. 

Lastly, we are so excited that our family is coming to Chicago this fall. To welcome those, who have been so loving to us, to our community and home will be an incredible experience. Please come out to see, support, and meet the pequeños of NPH Nicaragua! “¡Somos una gran familia!” (“We’re a big family”). And, my big Nicaraguan family is coming to town! Your life might just be the one that is transformed.