NPH Overview
Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos is a charitable organization serving orphaned and abandoned children in Latin America and the Caribbean. NPH International was established by late Fr. William Wasson of Arizona, United States, in 1954 in Mexico after he rescued a boy from harsh prison sentence for stealing food from the church because he was hungry. What Fr. Wasson started off with, 8 boys taken from Mexican prison, has grown to create Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, meaning Our Little Brothers, now operating in seven other countries: Nicaragua, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru and the Dominican Republic. Today more than 3000 children are being taken care of in the eight NPH homes. A worldwide community of donors, staff and volunteers enables NPH to help the children become caring and productive citizens in their countries.
NPH Nicaragua was established as the fourth NPH home in Central America on May 11, 1994. The home houses 361 children on the Island of Ometepe, a long, rough and wet boat ride from Granada across Lake Nicaragua; additionally, NPH operates "Casa Asis", a home for 25-50 orphaned babies. Most of the children at the Nicaraguan home are war orphans. Many of them are Miskito Indians, children from the East Coast of Nicaragua where Spanish is hardly spoken. The island home runs both primary and secondary schools on site, and other children from the island are enrolled in the school as well. Apart from the national curriculum, the school focuses on providing vocational education, for instance, in carpentry, cosmetology, welding, electricity and sewing. The home produces on its own the food consumed by the children each day.
Details
Min/Max # of Volunteers: 1-5
Length of Project: 6-12 months. The volunteers could arrive any time, though they should ideally come together so that they can be trained and introduced to the home all at once
Description of work: As this is the first year of the UWC 3rd year option at NPH, the possibilities are quite open for the volunteers. Given their own interests and areas of expertise, there are a range of possibilities for their contribution. Volunteers could develop and run an extra-curricular activities program for older students, help out in the school generally, and/or develop an advanced tutoring program for the most academically promising students, in the hopes that some may apply to the Nicaraguan UWC National Committee and/or attend university in Nicaragua. Volunteers could also work at Casa Asis with the babies if they were inclined to do so. There is also the possibility that a volunteer from Simon Bolivar UWC of Agriculture will be at NPH-Nicaragua next year, so the volunteers could also help with the development of the NPH farm.
Two MUWCI graduates will be at NPH-Nicaragua for the month of January in 2007. Once they have spent some time there, the range of projects will be better assessed and this page will be updated. Interested volunteers can be put in contact with these two graduates as well.
Location: Casa Asis is in Granada, 35 miles southeast of Managua, and NPH is on the Island of Ometepe, on Lake Nicaragua.
The boys dormitories are at Casa Santiago with the volcano Concepción in the background
Room and Board: NPH will provide basic room and board for the volunteers.
Financial requirements for the volunteer: The volunteers will be responsible for air travel to and from Managua, and any additional pocket expenses they may incur.
Specific requirements: The volunteers should at least have basic knowledge of Spanish, and, if the knowledge is basic, a desire to learn more. A higher level of proficiency would be preferable.
Website: nph.org
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