Pequeños Hermanos y Hermanas

Day 8. Friday, February 26, 2010

“No child should go hungry,” Reverend William B. Wasson.

Pequeños Hermanos y Hermanas, or Little Brothers and Sisters, was created by Reverend William B. Wasson with the hopes that no child should suffer or go hungry because they are poor. It officially became an organization 55 years ago.

Little Brothers and Sisters is a non-profit group home for Mexican children whose parents are unable to take care of them or are orphaned. Although some children are put into the group home by their parents in hopes of a better future for their children, some children come from broken and abusive homes and have been sent by the state. There are currently 500 to 550 children being housed by Little Brothers and Sisters.

Little Brothers and Sisters has two houses in Mexico, five Loyalist College students met with an International Volunteer from the United States named Kelly for a tour of one of the homes.

Kelly explained that many of the children who have been sent here come from abusive families. Some were victims to prostitution, torture and child slavery and many arrive with social, mental and physical disabilities.

“Little Brothers and Sisters offers the children help, we have psychologists, sociologists, doctors, dentists, volunteers and teachers to work with the children in hopes of giving them a better future,” Kelly says. “Sometimes the children will choose to talk with us about their abusive pasts.... my response is always I am so sorry and I am here for you.”

The organization offers all 500 to 550 children free education, regular check-ups, self-esteem workshops and encourages them in sports and all other areas. The properties housing is inside a gated community with all school, dental, health, fitness and extracurricular activities on the premises including basketball nets, pools, soccer fields, play sets and an area for group bonfires and sing alongs.

The organization is self sufficient in the way that there is a farm on the property where they harvest their own corn and crops in the fields, grow fruits and vegetables, have ponds for fish and pens for pigs and goats. There are paid workers specifically for the farm and the volunteers and children are also given chores to help out where capable and necessary.

Kelly says the school has an open door policy, meaning once you have stayed at Little Brothers and Sisters you are a member of the family and are always welcomed back. There have been times where children decide they want to leave the home, usually around the age of 16 to 18 Kelly says, sometimes they will end up homeless and within a few months return. When this happens they are given a place to stay and accepted back into the group home community, they are given chores around the property like the rest of the group and volunteers and paid staff help them try to find work and let them stay until they are ready to leave again.

“We never leave our family out in the dark,” Kelly says.

Volunteers work closely with the children, teaching them English and playing smaller supervisor roles. Even though there are so many children Kelly says you make special connections with all of them and although everyone might not always get a long, it is like a family.

“Sometimes I feel like I’m a mother to over 30 children,” she says. “You can’t help but love them all.”

Little Brothers and Sisters receive the majority of funding from sponsors in the United States, Canada and across Europe. They also have numerous homes in other countries including Haiti, El Salvador, Peru and Guatemala.

A controversial issue that arises from this organization is the difference between being referred to as an orphanage or a group home, as some of the children still have parents and there for are not orphaned. Some people feel this is a marketing scheme and is not right. They feel that organizations such as this, and Casa Hogar, are fragmenting a system that has worked for years; family. They are taking children away from their mothers and fathers and putting them into a group home.

Others say it is giving these children an opportunity for a better life and a stronger future, one their parents could not offer without the support of this organization and organizations like it. Kelly says the children are the main priority, and although there is over 50 paid staff at some of the organization the focus is always on keeping the children happy and healthy.

“We really are brothers and sisters... we take care of each other and care about each other,” Kelly says. “Sometimes there are problems but these children are looking for love no matter what.”

The school also offers education to children living in squatter settlements outside of the gated community. They send buses to pick the children up from the garbage dump, now turned into a landfill, where they live and bring them to Little Brothers and Sisters each day where they are given the opportunity to shower, given something to eat and are part of the daily classes by trained educators.