I owe so much to the children of NPH as they brought a gleaming light into the darkest point of my life...

Below is a reflection from sponsor, volunteer, and NW Associate Board Member, Bailey Bangerter, who shares with us about her amazing experience at NPH Mexico.

Joining NPH Mexico in 2011 as the home's Communications Officer (CO), I was stepping into a life-changing whirlwind of events that have led me to where I am today. Having the dual job as CO and mentor to the high school students, I gained immediate insight into the tireless work that goes on behind the scenes to run the organization, as well as the ins and outs of the daily life of the children. While interviewing children to feature their stories on the website, it was difficult for me to grasp the depths of the tragedies and trials they had faced at such young ages. It was a privilege to hear the stories of our children as the home journalist, although it was an even deeper honor when the children opened up and shared their lives with me as a friend that had gained their hard-earned trust.

Before coming to NPH, many of these children were shuffled from one temporary shelter to the next, separated from their siblings. I am proud to be a part of an organization that gives children a true sense of stability and family-life. When they join NPH, they know that this is their �home�, where they can finally be liberated from the fear that they might be without education, food or shelter. I fully believe that NPH aids in the goal to break the cycle of poverty of the world.

NPH owes its success and longevity in large part to the organization's founder, our beloved Father William Wasson. He laid down the strong foundations of love, forgiveness and a merciful path, that the home continues to uphold. Father Wasson once said, �I believe that if we�re going to change the world at all, I believe that we have to start with the children, and we have to start in changing their hearts�.

 

I saw firsthand the good in these children and the depths of their hearts when I was forced to cut my yearlong volunteer commitment short for a family emergency. I was notified of my mother�s sudden decline in health one day, and I was scheduled to fly back to Seattle the very next morning.  With the abrupt announcement of my unfortunate circumstances during bedtime prayers, I was overwhelmed with tearful hugs of well wishes, heartfelt notes scribbled in seconds-flat, and a few tokens of remembrances, including small stuffed animals, necklaces and crosses.

 

In the ensuing months, I devoted much of my time to my mother, staking out UW Medical Center as our new primary residence. I was torn between being selfishly devastated to have been robbed of my final few months at NPH and being selflessly grounded in the every day struggle of supporting my mother. My soul was overwhelmed to hear that the high school girls were praying for my mother�s recovery during their nightly bedtime prayer circle. My mother actually recuperated to a point that she was able to transition into the outpatient setting. I attribute these few months out of the hospital partly to the prayers and unfailing support of my family at NPH. 

I owe so much to the children of NPH as they brought a gleaming light into the darkest point of my life. My mother, arguably the most beautiful person inside and out, passed away 3 months after I left NPH. The only factors that kept my spirit afloat were the love and encouragement from my three sisters, my close friends, and my new family of peque?os, fellow volunteers and staff at NPH Mexico. I was able to just hang on, with the anticipation of visiting my kids in Mexico every 6 months for graduations in July and Christmas celebrations in December. I only accepted jobs that permitted these semi-annual vacations and all my spare change went to my flights and travel costs.

Five years later, I�m still devoting much of my spare time to this organization, as an active member of the NW Associate Board, a proud Godmother of 13-year-old Rodolfo and a mentor of Irene, one of the six impressive students participating in the yearlong immersion program here in Seattle. Becoming a part of NPH has enriched my life in so many ways and has had a greater impact on my sense of self than I could have ever imagined.

 

As those who devote themselves to service often come to realize, when you set out with the idealistic goal of �making the world a better place� and �helping the less fortunate�, you end up investing in yourself more than anything. Through all the trials and challenges, you leave the experience as a stronger, more accepting and loving individual, with the life-long mission to work towards a more peaceful society. As father Wasson once said, �We are all brothers and sisters and we all must care for one another.� I am forever indebted to my brothers and sisters at NPH for caring for me over the past 5 years.

Give a year, gain a lifetime of love: 2015 International Volunteer Program recap

By Vicky Medley, International Volunteer Coordinator, NPH USA

2015 was my ninth year working with our International Volunteer Program!  I sure do love my job; I have the pleasure of helping with the selection, placement and support for the International Volunteers that come from the U.S.  For Volunteer Appreciation Week 2016, I want to provide you with a program update and some highlights.

Overall, 2015 was another successful year for our International Volunteer Program.  Each year we make some changes and adjustments.  In 2015:

• We added more intercultural trainings to our preparation materials.  NPH is a complex web of cultures: the culture of the home country, the organizational culture, and the multinational, multilingual cultures that the volunteers bring from all corners of the globe to the volunteer community. With that in mind, all of our volunteers now complete the Impact Abroad Toolkit, an online course about effective intercultural partnerships.  Our volunteers also now participate in the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale to help identify strengths and areas of growth in intercultural settings.   
• We increased our recruitment efforts.  Like most volunteer programs, over the last two years we�ve received fewer applications. To counteract that trend, we visited more campuses and increased our online profiles and materials on many college career centers.  We�re also experimenting with targeted recruitment for hard-to-fill positions like therapists and Communication Officers.
• We now provide all volunteers� international health insurance.  In the past we provided a subsidy, but we are now able to cover the entire cost. 

Our International Volunteers in action!

We currently have 29 volunteers serving alongside the local staff at NPH.  International Volunteers do not replace local staff, but they provide much-needed services that are difficult for us to ensure otherwise.  In 2015, we had a total of 58 volunteers who served at least six months, saving NPH an estimated $120,780. 

International volunteers serve for a year or more at all the NPH homes.  Some volunteers work in education as English and PE teachers, Preschool Teachers, Tutors, and Librarians.  Many volunteers work as Caregivers, or in special programs like Women�s Empowerment, Social Work or Youth Ministry.  We have several volunteers who provide physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy.  Volunteers also work in administration, serving as volunteer coordinators, visitor coordinators, project coordinators, or in the child sponsorship department.  Our medical volunteers serve as nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners and clinic assistants.

As you read through the volunteer testimonials, https://www.nph.org/ws/volunteers/testimonials.php?lang=en you will see some themes emerge: 

NPH really is a giant family, and our volunteers are an essential part of that family, not only providing professional services, but accompanying the Peque?os during chores, homework, meals, mass, and playtime. 

Most volunteers feel that during their time with NPH they have received more than they have given, and are transformed by their service.  They learn about patience, sharing, love and new priorities that focus on relationships rather than tasks. 

International Volunteers� continuing involvement with NPH

Even after their service has been over for a year or more, most volunteers stay involved with NPH.  In 2015, former volunteers came up with new and creative ways to raise money, and built support for NPH:  

• In cities where there are regional offices, former International Volunteers help at fundraisers, translate, assist in the offices, speak at events, and meet with donors.
• We have Associate Boards in cities throughout the country.  Many former volunteers participate in the Associate Boards, helping organize pub crawls, trivia nights, and other events that appeal to socially conscious young professionals.
• In Seattle, many former volunteers are involved in NPH International�s Seattle Institute. This program helps develop a future generation of leaders for our NPH homes.  Their curriculum is based on principles of servant leadership and grounded in our NPH philosophy.  Former International volunteers serve as mentors, assist with retreats and events, and most importantly, serve as a comforting presence during the difficult adjustment period when the adult Peque?os first arrive in Seattle. 
• Each fall, a cadre of volunteers helps us with college recruitment.   In 2015, six former volunteers visited college volunteer recruitment events. 

How can you support our International Volunteer Program?

• Help us spread the word about volunteering with NPH!  Share our information with your alumni network, your professional associations, on social media, or your place of worship. 
• If you are visiting an NPH home, pack a few treats for our volunteers!  They love surprises from home, especially holiday treats (like candy corn, inexpensive advent calendars, Easter candy, etc.), and treats that are hard to find in Latin America. 
• Ask volunteers about their time at NPH, and really listen to what they have to say.  You will learn all sorts of things about NPH.

If you�ve met any of our former volunteers, you know that they are deeply dedicated to the NPH family, and they are a creative, passionate, hard-working and humble group.  May we be blessed with their presence for many years to come!

I realized that it was a family I was so lucky to be a part of�

Below is a reflection written by former international volunteer and current Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Associate Board member, Courtney Gomez, about her year volunteering at NPH Guatemala.

 

In orientation, meetings, and activities at NPH, the philosophy of NPH-that we are all a family-is regularly discussed, but the truth is, I've heard this in other schools I have attended or jobs I have had. I distinctly remember looking around one day with my girls, watching a soccer game, and I noticed the majority of the children at NPH had gathered around the field. Some were enthusiastically cheering for their favorite t?o or uncle as staff at NPH are referred to. Some were at the game but playing with the younger kids, or hanging out listening to music with their peers or biological siblings. Whichever task the peque?os chose to do, there was a great sense of familiarity and belonging amongst them all. It occurred to me this day that this really is a family, and as girls ran up to me asking when I was going to open Chicas Poderosas or if I wanted to play cards, I realized it was a family that I was so lucky to be a part of.

 

Now as I get ready to leave this family and home that I have become a part of, I can�t help but think about all the things I will miss. Not big moments or events, but the little things that make us a family are the things I can�t imagine my daily life without. The way the volunteers help each other through the ups and downs of being away from our own countries. The way everyone tries really hard to pronounce my strange American name. The way my girls will yell "no one more time" after playing the same card games for hours, and despite the fact that it is time for bed, how I will try to fit in one more game. The way they tease me for loosing repeatedly or laugh at me but help me when I say a word wrong. The way they paint my nails in brightly colored patterns, or the way I can walk into a section or the cafeteria and be greeted by kids yelling my name with smiles and hugs. 

 

I am truly grateful to everyone of NPH Guatemala for letting me into their lives, for touching my heart and for impacting my life in ways I will never forget. 

The trip instilled in me a lifelong commitment to helping and supporting NPH�

Below is a reflection written by sponsor and Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Associate Board co-chair Bo Mlnarik.

 

I first visited an NPH home as a sophomore in high school.  My local parish sent a group of young people each year to the home in Mexico, and I was fortunate enough to join one of these trips.  The initial experience was incredible and overwhelming.  The kids and the home were so full of love and appreciation that it forced me to look at my own life and values in a way that I hadn't ever before.  The trip instilled in me a lifelong commitment to helping and supporting NPH as I witnessed firsthand the impact NPH's mission has on the children and community.  I have since been back to the Guatemala home three times, and each time I am reminded of how special and important that mission is.  NPH seeks to break the cycle of poverty in Latin American countries by providing the very basics of life: food, shelter, clothing, etc., to under privileged and disadvantaged children.  Most importantly, NPH provides these children with the essence of a happy and fulfilling life: education, faith and family.  The family community and sense of belonging that all children crave is the very fabric of the NPH home and is what makes it such a special place.  I have no doubt that the work I do and the money we raise to support NPH's continued mission goes to great use, and I look forward to staying involved with this organization in a meaningful way for the rest of my life.

 

 

The trip to NPH Dominican Republic was a beautiful, eye-opening experience...

Below is a reflection by Emma Towne of Northeast Catholic College who went on a Mission Trip to NPH Dominican Republic. 

 

For me, the NPH Dominican Republic mission trip was a lesson, first and foremost, in giving. Giving on a mission trip sounds complicated and hard, but as I discovered, giving does not consist of many difficult tasks, but in seemingly little things that must be done with your total self.  When first touring NPH, I was swiftly captured by a little boy who proceeded to teach me how to dance the salsa. At first, taken aback by his boldness and not being much of a dancer, I thought hurriedly of ways to politely get out of dancing. But then I realized that the purpose of this mission trip wasn�t maintaining my own personal comfort, but giving myself, even when it was annoying and uncomfortable, or simply a nuisance.

 

Throughout the course of the week, I reflected on what is meant by the words: give yourself. Giving yourself on a mission trip does not mean you show yourself off, or have a set plan in mind that absolutely must work. �Giving yourself� is when you set aside your own desires and focus completely on the person next to you, listening to him, playing with him, enjoying him. You must cast aside your own ideas and visions of glory and be content with playing on seesaws and kicking deflated soccer balls. The paradox of giving yourself is that you also must be receptive to love, in the varying forms it takes. At NPH, love was expressed through the children�s constant hand-holding and playing with our hair, their unceasing hugging and dancing, which made me mildly uncomfortable as an introvert. And yet here was the call to love! Love is simple and uncomplicated, but it demands surrendering yourself, even when it is awkward or painful, or simply not in your comfort zone. It was this that I found the most arduous�because it demanded me to surrender myself for the sake of someone else. Yet when I surrendered myself, I was rewarded with the greatest of gifts: the friendship of a child.

 

Of all the wonderful things that I saw and experienced while in the Dominican, it was playing with the children that struck me the most. At NPH, the children are so joyful and happy, despite the circumstances many have faced. There was a love of life that was delightful to witness, and an energy and enthusiasm that was certainly hard to keep up with! Their openness was a blessing to us on the trip, as we struggled with Spanish, the heat and basketball. The children gave us so much, more than we could possibly ever give them.

 

The trip to NPH Dominican Republic was a beautiful, eye-opening experience, a trip I am very happy to have undertaken. The exposure to an entirely different culture, poorer than America, yet rich in faith, love and joy, has influenced me incredibly; it taught me about love and self-gift, and what happens when you truly open yourself up to others.

 

The Langugage That Everyone Can Speak

Below is a reflection from Sydney Mailloux of Northeast Catholic College on a recent mission trip she took to NPH DR.

Normally we do not think much about language. Most of the time, we are surrounded by those who speak our native tongue�we take for granted the extraordinary ability to understand and be understood. But despite our native tongue�s extreme importance in our lives, there is a language that all people of every race can speak, a language native to all people of all time. The instinctive understanding of this universal language appeared more and more evident to us in different forms throughout the week, in three major areas: in our work, in our interactions with each other, and in our interactions with the people at NPH.

We drove down a highway lined with palm trees to arrive at the Dominican NPH house on Monday evening. Our work began the next day. Throughout the week, we painted a house, worked in the kitchen, and worked on a farm. Despite the sometimes oppressive heat and exhaustion that we earned during our work, we were also the glad recipients of much joy�joy that springs from helping others with love.

We shared that joy with each other. The songs we sang while we worked, the jokes made, the conversations shared, and the friendships forged are all things that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Not only did we have the opportunity to help others through our mission work, we also had the blessing of lifting one another up, comforting each other in our difficulties and sharing one another�s joys.

We learned much from our work and from each other, but we also learned much from the children and others we came in contact with at and through NPH. So many of them come from difficult backgrounds and harsh pasts. Many of the children we met at the home come from weak or broken families�sometimes no families at all. Many of the people we met live in difficult circumstances for one reason or another. The people we met have very little in the way of material riches, but they possess interior treasures one can only marvel at. Their openness and kindness to total strangers was nothing less than inspiring; we went to give and received so much in return.

In the end, we did not come away fluent in Spanish. But we became more and more proficient in the language that everyone can speak. We learned charity for God�s children, friendship with one another, and love and esteem for every individual person�we learned to speak with greater fluency the language of universality, the language of love.

 

I owe a heartfelt thank you to NPH Honduras�

Below is reflection written by sponsor and Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Associate Board co-chair Allison Ahern.

 

Traveling to the Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) Home in Honduras in 2012 was a rare and special opportunity. I feel abundantly blessed that I was able to spend time with the children there, as they quickly refreshed my perspective on having compassion for others, showing gratitude, being generous of spirit, and the value of service. I witnessed the children's unquestioned willingness to share love. I also saw the positive impact of the NPH Model, for I was welcomed into a large, considerate family, in which the oldest members care for the youngest, and everyone sacrifices for the good of the whole. I was humbled by what the children have and do not have. Overhearing that some of the littlest ones graciously prayed to God for chicken, watching all of them lick their bowls after each meal and seeing the ongoing efforts to repair the roof over their heads, made the news that the NPH Homes need financial support very real. What these children do have though is a tremendous opportunity to succeed in this life, despite what they have already lost. Through NPH's support, which is truly the support of their "family," they can thrive academically, learn a practical trade, and grow into adults while enjoying happy, healthy and safe childhoods. This leads to what I consider a successful life, being able to support oneself and one's family while giving and receiving the love of God and neighbor. I owe a heartfelt "Thank you" to NPH Honduras for this reminder, and I look forward to journeying back there in the future.