Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos
Mexico
NPH International Board Meeting
Guatemala
Annual Report 2003
Financial Forecast 2003-2004
Budget Proposal 2004-2005
MEXICO – The Country
Mexico remains stable but still pretty much at a standstill with a President unable to deliver
on major initiatives with an opposition-controlled congress. The peso also remains week, hovering
at around 11 pesos to the dollar. (All figures mentioned in this report, by the way, are in U.S.
dollars.) Mexico is still waiting on a just settlement of the immigration issue with the United States,
but progress has been made in the past few months, including President Bush´s introduction of a
guest-worker program for the U.S. and Mexico.
ADMINISTRATION
General...
This year, NPH Mexico has been blessed with the incredible help of not only many
companies and individuals in the United States and Europe, but also from Mexican companies and
citizens. We continue to receive monthly gifts of milk, rice and beans, and cereal is provided by
Kellogg´s. Added to our list of supporters is Costco. The international company recently opened in
Cuernavaca and provides us with food on a weekly basis. Even though the food is recently
expired, we cannot tell the difference and the pequeños love trying all sorts of exotic foods and
desserts. Another company, OXXO, the equivalent of a minimart chain in the U.S., created a
program in their stores that created over $13,000 in donations for our children. Other companies
and government agencies such as the national food bank, Baxter Pharmaceuticals, Coca Cola,
Cinemex (the national Movie Theater chain), and numerous foundations continue to provide their
generous support for the pequeños.
NPH Mexico continues to work on controlling physical inventory and lowering costs. This
year, we also look forward to implementing English as a foreign language in Kinder through 6th
grade. We are incredibly pleased with the sharing fund program implemented this year. Every child
received a monetary gift for Christmas and they receive an equal amount in the month their
birthday falls. We thank all of those padrinos who helped make this possible. NPH Mexico once
again looks forward to the numerous youth groups and visitors who spend time with our family
throughout the year and make an everlasting impact on the lives of the pequeños. Finally, NPH
Mexico warmly welcomed me, Rafael Bermudez, as its new Country Director. I grew up as a
pequeño, worked in Honduras as Director of the Sponsorship department for ten years, and for the
last three years I was Fr. Phil´s Administrative Assistant. I ask for you to pray for us and the
continued success of NPH Mexico.
Public Relations...
Our Public Relations department continues to break new fund-raising ground in Mexico.
They continue to provide various presentations to different radio and print media outlets, Rotary
clubs, and corporations. Besides the weekly food donations that are given by Costco, the
international superstore and NPH Mexico joined forces for a holiday campaign that earned over
$10,000 for our house. Costco shoppers were asked to purchase $1.00 cards, sign their name,
and put them on a wall near the check out counters. It was an incredible sight to see over 10,000
cards supporting NPH throughout the store. The public relations department also coordinated the
effort with OXXO that was mentioned above, and recently reached an agreement with Walmart to
donate food items on a weekly basis as well.
A major publicity campaign that began last year with the help of a professional advertising
company here in Mexico came to fruition with television spots on different channels throughout the
state of Morelos (where NPH Mexico has its headquarters) and Mexico City. The campaign offered
a wonderful opportunity to promote NPH Mexico to children and families who might need our help
and raise money for our programs.
Another special moment created by our Public Relations department was a donation of
nutritional supplements from Foundation for the Children of the World, and a trip for four pequeños
who traveled to Brazil and Argentina on behalf of Omnitrition to represent NPH and provide more
recognition for NPH (besides being an incredible experience for those who went!).
The upcoming year will be a busy year for the Public Relations department (and the rest of
the NPH Mexico staff) as we prepare for the 50th Anniversary of NPH in August and at the
international board meetings in February 2005. Various events will take place to promote NPH and
celebrate the wonderful history of the organization.
Correspondence Department...
After the Mexican Postal Service raised its rates last year, the Correspondence Department
began using a company called Starmail for all of its international mail. Starmail´s current prices are
equal to those of the Mexican Postal Service in 2001. We still take advantage of discounts for bulk
mailing through the Mexican Postal Service, however, and save up to 60% at times.
Correspondence sent three different Newsletters to 30,000 people each time. The direct mailing in
October earned over $16,000 for NPH Mexico. In 2004, Correspondence will focus on reestablishing contact with inactive donors and increasing our mailing list in Morelos. Furthermore,
we will try our hand at a direct mailing by internet, which allows us to reach more people for much
less.
Godparent Program...
The Sponsorship office continues to receive and assure that the pequeños answer the
thousands of cards and letters that Godparents send annually. With the introduction of the sharing
fund this year, the Sponsorship office was in charge of distributing the monetary gifts. It was a
large undertaking done flawlessly. The creation of a Policy Manual for different Sponsorship
offices, which began last year, has been completed and sent to all of the offices and country
homes. One significant advance in the Sponsorship office is the new Intranet system. This enables
the offices in all of the countries to communicate faster and more efficiently. It is truly an invaluable
addition.This year, the total number of Godparents decreased because we updated the archives
for padrinos. Those that were no longer actively involved in the sponsorship program were taken
out.
At the moment we have 5,548 Godparents in our extended family, among them carrying
5,855 sponsorships…
Organization
NPH-Mexico
FOTO-MN
FOTO-AZ
FOTO-IL
UKBS-Austria
OKW-Holland
FOTO-NW
NPH-Italy
FOTO-Canada
FFW-Germany
NPFS-France
# of Godparents
1492
1462
1201
455
303
188
129
129
82
72
34
#of Sponsorships
1624
1511
1263
478
326
195
131
134
86
72
34
HOUSES
Casa San Salvador (Miacatlán)...
In Miacatlán, 635 of the 888 pequeños live and go to school. They are the youngest of our
family members (from Kinder through 9th grade) and the majority of our year of service pequeños
(those who have already graduated from high school). Like last year, our population has
decreased overall, and there are less children in Miacatlan. There are reasons for the decline. To
begin with, we have not served the children we already have as best we can but we are working
on ways to improve the quality of care we give our children and better prepare them for the high
school and the university. We have also seen a decline in the number of new arrivals. We
continue to address these issues with the Social Worker´s office. One thing we are going to
consider is hiring another social worker who can help alleviate some of the day to day burdens
which prevent our social worker from doing house visits and finding children that could benefit from
a life at NPH.
Another reason for the decline at the house in Miacatlan is the change in the year of
service program here in Mexico. Now, the pequeños do not have to do a year of service after the
9th grade (before going to high school). Instead, they go directly to the high school in Cuernavaca.
After high school, they still do two years of service before going to the university. As a result of
these changes, this year we sent double the amount of boys and girls to the high school (those
that just completed their year of service after 9th grade and those that had just graduated from the
9th grade). This change allows our kids to move continuously through the educational system and,
we hope, have more kids graduate with a high school diploma.
Steps that began last year, such as the welcome orientation program, hiring another
psychologist, and mathematics tutoring for the year of service pequeños are continuously being
evaluated to improve them and make them function even better. The library in Miacatlan is fully
developed and constantly growing thanks to many generous donors. It is one of the most
important activities we can offer our children. They go to the library to read, play board games,
draw, and relax. We hope to update the library´s computer lab and eventually connect the
computers to the internet.
Plans for this year include the purchase of a hot water system for the boys´ sections. Right
now, they are without sufficient hot water. We plan on repairing the decades-old bathrooms in the
boys´ sections (the girls bathrooms are fairly modern and do not have as many problems) and
renovation of the run-down multi-use sport court is in the works. Finally, we hope to connect the
entire house to the intranet so all staff and personnel can communicate and serve the pequeños
better, and so our children can have the opportunity to learn the benefits of the internet and use it
as a learning tool in their classrooms.
Casa Buen Señor (Cuernavaca)...
Some 36 pequeños finished their high school studies in computer science, tourism, child
care or electronics and went on to give their second year of service to NPH. Currently, there are
203 pequeños living at Casa Buen Señor and studying at the high school. Of those 203, 106 are
part of the two generations that arrived at the same time to begin their first year of studies. We had
to make sure that space was available and to prepare for the future population increase. Summer
courses were given for the entering ¨freshmen.¨ A new girls´ dorm is being built (see Construction),
a gift in honor of long-time NPH supporter, Mary Harrigan.
With the population increase, we were also presented with a few difficulties. The severely
outdated water system in Cuernavaca was expanded and fixed so there would almost always be
water available. It was a big cost but something that had to be done or else approximately half of
our kids would not have had water to shower or use the bathroom on a daily basis. Right now,
there are only 6 computers at our library/resource center at Casa Buen Señor. One computer for
every 30 children without internet access or sufficient software programs for their required
coursework. We are looking into soliciting funds for a fully functional computer lab on-site that
would give us access to the internet on over 20 computers through a modern computer server. We
are also looking for volunteers to become activities coordinators for the high school pequeños to
keep them actively involved in sports, chess tournaments, talks about current issues in their lives,
and get-togethers for movies and other special holidays.
Casa San Luis (Monterrey)...
This past year saw five graduate from different university programs and begin their lives
outside of NPH.
The volunteer group formed in Monterrey last year with the aim of securing donations in
kind, godparents and new donors from there, has been highly successful. Once again, the
¨estudiantina¨ and dance troupes made a special trip to Monterrey to make various presentations
and raise awareness for our homes. The most significant news out of Casa San Luis is the new
dormitory construction (see Construction). We are excited for the project to be finished by this
summer and provide a better living environment for our most ambitious pequeños.
Medical and Dental Clinics...
The medical clinic is fortunate enough to have another doctor on our staff who will be
working part time at our home in Cuernavaca. With the population increase there, we could no
longer afford to be sending all of the kids to Miacatlan and missing many days of school because
of transportation issues. Now, the children will be able to see a doctor right at their home and not
miss as much school for medical exams. Part of the medical clinic, the psychology department is
making headway in treating the most special of our children. With one clinical psychologist, one
educational psychologist, and two language therapy professionals we are making strides in the
attention we give them and able to to determine the needs of every new arrival that joins our
family. This year, the medical clinic would like to make operational once again the hydrotherapy
tub and adapt a room for physical therapy. Furthermore, we are going to have to replace the clinic
vehicles including the passenger van (which takes pequeños to Mexico City and Cuernavaca five
days a week) and the ambulance.
The dental clinic continues to see every child in our home for regular check ups twice a
year. They averaged over six surgeries a week, most of those being the extraction of wisdom teeth
from our older pequeños! We have over 60 children with braces and are always looking to educate
the children on proper individual dental care which will prevent more problems for us in the future.
In the field of dentistry like everything else today, technology is always improving. Therefore, the
dental clinic is looking to take more classes to stay up to date on recent advances and look for
ways to better the health of our children. This year, they are looking to purchase a new handset for
normal cleaning and operating procedures. The pieces were donated, but the actual machine still
needs to be obtained. They are also looking into an inner-mouth camera and the most recent laser
technology most dentists in the U.S. are already familiar with.
Volunteers...
The year saw more volunteers at both Casa San Salvador and Buen Señor. In Miacatlan,
there were a total of 15 different female volunteers and four different male volunteers. Most of
them were house parents caring for our children, and others were in charge of the library and
special needs children. In Cuernavaca, we were blessed with six different female volunteers and
two different male volunteers. Most of them were english teachers, and others worked in the social
workers office. The service that volunteers give to our children is greatly appreciated. This year,
we are trying to improve not only the orientation process for new volunteers, but also improve
procedures and information for them, including periodic evaluations on their performance. We are
always looking for more volunteers to help our very large family in many different areas of the
house.
SCHOOLS
Bachillerato (Technical Senior High School)...
Currently, there are 179 pequeños studying at the high school, 106 of which are part of the
two generations that arrived at the same time to begin their first year of studies. This is still the
level where we lose the greatest number of pequeños each year. Some students will not be able to
graduate from the high school and are placed in a job placement program at another one of our
properties in Cuernavaca. For this, we give them more responsibility and require them to get a job
and prepare to live on their own as an adult. For other students it is a question of motivation. As a
result we are looking at ways to prepare them before beginning their first year (summer courses, a
better middle school curriculum) and we must look at the problem of resources in Casa Buen
Señor such as computers and a sufficient study center. Some changes implemented last year,
however, are already seeing results. The individual textbook program is allowing our teachers to
teach more creatively and offering our pequeños a necessary learning tool, and the computers
donated last year are being used daily in the accounting classrooms. The use of technology in
education is the greatest asset we can give to our high school children.
Secondary...
There were 65 graduates from the secondary, or middle school that went directly to the
high school with the generation of pequeños that finished their first year of service. Of note, two
more children from Milpillas, the garbage dump, graduated and successfully moved on to study at
the high school in Cuernavaca. As the Milpillas program reaches its sixth year, we are now
beginning to see how great the opportunity is for those children. Our children competed in many
different events with other students from schools around the state of Morelos and were very
successful in both the educational and physical challenges. This year, the middle school hopes to
improve its vocational learning program to better prepare those with learning disabilities or other
setbacks to get a job.
Primary...
The primary, or elementary school, is continuing to improve learning for our special needs
children by putting them in their own designated classes and with the hiring of the two
psychologists and another language therapist. Other programs for the children include the
development of an english as a second language program beginning in the first grade through the
5th grade. We hope, costs permitting, that we can expand the program to kinder and sixth grade
next year. After all, studies show it is much easier for the kids to learn a second language the
younger they begin studying it. The elementary school has improved the appearance of the
interiors of the classroom and is still hoping to set up some kind of small recreation area with
playground equipment for the youngest children. They also look forward to being internet
connected.
Religious Education...
The spiritual development of the high school and year of service pequeños was helped a
lot this year with the introduction of a well known international Catholic youth program called LIFE
TEEN. We are the first LIFE TEEN group established in the country of Mexico and have once a
week sessions in Miacatlan and Cuernavaca. It gives our oldest pequeños a chance to focus on
their own faith and learn a little more about our religion every time.
Apart from LIFE TEEN, catechists continue to teach religion to all of our children, in the
schools during the regular school day, throughout the system – primary, secondary and high
school levels. Last year 30 children were baptized, 70 received their First Communion, and 60
pequeños received the sacrament of Confirmation form the bishop of Cuernavaca. All of the high
school students went to retreats again this year and will do the same this spring as part of the first
retreats put on by LIFE TEEN.
FARM
One of the greatest blessings to haeppen to us in the farm area is the continued help of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Not only do they continue to provide us with
volunteer veterinarians, but they also provide us with their expertise and connections. The farm
area is constantly growing and looking for ways to improve production.
One of the areas the director of the farm is trying to improve is the fish area. Last year, 972
kilos of fish were eaten by the pequeños, and they hope to cultivate more next year and have the
pequeños eat fish more often. Another area where we have seen an incredible increase is in
goats. Goat meat is now being introduced as part of the pequeños´ diet because we have an
average stock of 100 and plan on having 165 by the end of 2004. Pigs are still the main source of
meat for our children. Through November of last year, our farm area produced 27,859 kilos of pork
to be eaten in our houses. They are still looking to construct a room where they can prepare the
pigs in the most sanitary way. Right now, it is done outside on a concrete block. Our chicken
department is looking to purchase individual cages for the over 1,600 laying hens we have at any
given time. This will help prevent the spread of disease and produce more eggs for the house.
Fortunately, the egg production is going well and we are able to provide eggs for both Miacatlan
and Cuernavaca. For next year, they plan on purchasing 2,000 laying hens to continue with egg
production and increase productivity.
CONSTRUCTION
This year, we have begun substantial improvements in the living conditions of our oldest
pequeños at the high school and university levels. Conditions for them were cramped at best, and
¨cruel and unusual punishment¨ at worst. Mary Horrigan was a good friend of NPH for many years
in life – and she continues giving generously in death. Mary left a bequest that, among other
things, is paying for the construction of a new dormitory for our high school girls. ¨Casa Horrigan¨
will be finished in the next couple of months. It will be a reminder to all of our children that they
should practice charity in the same way that so many wonderful friends, like Mary, have already
done so for them.
Generation after generation of pequeños have studied in Monterrey at the finest
universities in Mexico – all of that made possible by Lic. Alejandro Chapa and his efforts on our
behalf. Our home in Monterrey is a set of apartment blocks that have been gerrymandered into a
series of rooms and small dining area with little space for anything else. Lic. Chapa, besides all he
has already done for us, is now covering the costs of remodeling the entire facility – turning tiny,
cramped rooms into dormitories, giving us adequate cooking and dining areas and computer and
study areas. Thank you, Licenciado!
FINANCIAL
Income from the fundraisers is projected to be somewhat higher than budgeted.
Furthermore, local donations are expected to be much higher. In both cases, the income can be
attributed to generous contributions from some individual donors over and above the normal
commitment by each office. Overall, our expenses exceed our income by $357,532. The increase
in expenses can be attributed the cost of new construction in all three houses and an unexpected
increase in employee salaries due to the hiring of more paid staff and teachers after we eliminated
the first year of service after ninth grade and sent both generations to the high school. We also
have a planned deficit of $400,000 next year to decrease the reserve which NPH Mexico has built
up over the years to bring it down to the required two month level mandated by NPH International.
The detailed forecast for 2003-2004 and the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2004-2005
is attached.
AND FINALLY...
What an incredible time of change it has been for NPH in the last couple of months! One of
those big changes was the announcement that Father Phil would be taking the role of Executive
Director of NPH International and I would become National Director for NPH Mexico. I am honored
to lead NPH Mexico and continue to work to improve the lives of our children. I thank all of you,
Godparents, donors, fund-raisers, volunteers, board members, and co-workers for your support
and encouragement for me, and for your amazing dedication to the pequeños. I have always said
that miracles take place here on a daily basis, and you make those miracles possible. I hope all of
you will come and visit us and see what great things are happening. Once again, thank you.
Peace and God bless,
Rafael Bermudez
Director, NPH Mexico