I wrote this article for the newsletter of the Minnesota Friends of the Orphans, one of many groups worldwide that sponsor the good works of a priest named Father William Wasson. About 50 years ago in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Father Wasson founded an organization called Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos to take care of orphaned or abandoned kids. I did the sketches and took the photos (except for the photo with me in it).

About 600 sponsors and friends of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, including a large group from Minnesota Friends of the Orphans, flew to Mexico in mid February to join one of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the founding of NPH. I was one of the sponsors who attended.

I arrived Thursday night on Feb. 17 and joined people who had been arriving all week from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Germany. I returned home on Tuesday Feb. 23, after five days and six nights full of enriching experiences.

At the NPH homes in Cuernavaca and Miacatlan, the children, staff, and volunteers worked hard to get ready for our coming, and while we were there they spectacularly entertained us. Pequeños and volunteers met us at the airport to help us to the buses, and more pequeños and volunteers were waiting to help unload our bags when we got to the hotel. Even though my goal was to visit the child I sponsor, and I would have been content with more-simple accommodations, I was delighted to find that the Hacienda Cocoyoc where we would be staying has lovely grounds, and it has a well-deserved reputation as one of the nicest resort hotels in Mexico.

On field trips to Cuernavaca to where the high school children live and to Miacatlan, where the younger children live, we got to see the children's dormitories, kitchens, orchards, dining halls, and classrooms. They greeted us with songs and skits and celebrated Fr. Wasson's and his supporters' achievements with folk dances and fireworks. We attended Mass with the children in their chapel, and afterwards they fed us a great dinner in their dining hall that they cooked themselves with ham from their own pigs and fresh corn from their fields.

To the right is Guadalupe Bonifacio Vasquez, the 18 year old who I sponsor. She is holding a paper heart with my name on it and a flower she made for my sister. (She had also made one for me.) Guadalupe came to NPH about seven years ago with her sisters. Her mother had died four years earlier, and her father tried to raise them but finally had to bring them to NPH. They haven't seen their father since then. I believe it must be because it would just be too hard for him to keep seeing them when he cannot give them a home. It did my heart good to meet Guadalupe in person. We share a love of making art. She sends me drawings when she writes to me.

Each child is educated to the limits of the child's interests, intelligence, talents, and willingness to work. When they saw one boy had artistic talent, for example, NPH found a way to send him to Monterrey to study art. Now the former pequeno is a famous artist in Mexico. While I was there they dedicated a statue of Father Wasson and some children that was created by the artist.

On Friday, children whose sponsors attended got bussed in to spend a day and play games and eat lunch with us at Hacienda Cocoyoc. To the left is a carriage ride I took with Guadalupe and her sister, Josefina, around the resort. The driver was charming and asked Guadalupe a lot of questions about her life. And he told us the names of his horses. One horse's name was Carinoso, and I teased the driver asking if the name meant he loved the horse very much. He made us both laugh when he said the horse got that name because he was so expensive. (Carinoso can have either meaning.)

Another not insignificant bonus from this trip is that we all got to mingle during those five perfect sunny days with each other, sponsors, volunteers, and staff of the NPH homes, all of whom share the same heart for the children. There were a lot of people from Germany. I was surprised to find out that Europeans provide more than 50% of NPH support.

I was thrilled to meet Father Wasson the first morning, as we left the hotel to tour Casa Buen Señor, the NPH high school and home for the older children in Cuernavaca. Father Wasson was accepting hugs at the hotel entrance. He is in a wheelchair, having broken his hip, but he looks otherwise healthy. He continues to work with the new international board on expanding the reach of NPH, which now has homes in nine countries. Two new homes, in Bolivia and Peru, are opening in 2005. It was good to find out that they hire from within. Eight of nine of the country directors are former pequeños, and most of them are married to former pequeñas.

To keep up with Fr. Wasson's big plans for good, lots of money is needed. At a meeting on Sunday, later jokingly referred to as the "Big Give," we saw a video of testimonials to Fr. Wasson from past and present celebrities like John Wayne, Rachel Welch, and Jimmy Stewart. In his testimonial Mr. Rogers said that he had never met anyone who trusted in the Holy Spirit more than Fr. Wasson. More recent expressions of gratitude came from many former residents of the homes. A new International Board was announced, and several members from Minnesota were recognized that day as board members. The fundraising that followed raised one million and a half dollars!

I began to be a sponsor because of the efforts of Minnesota Friends of the Orphans. Even though I now live in San Jose, CA, I am a long-time former Minnesota resident, having lived from 1970 in Barnesville, Moorhead, and Minneapolis, until I was recruited for a technical writing job by Sun Microsystems in 1989 and relocated to Silicon Valley. My connection with MFO started when I was temporarily working on a documentation project in Eagan for three weeks during Lent in 2002 at a start-up purchased by Sun. Every time I would go to St. John Neumann Parish for Mass and Lenten services, I would pass by a wall full of photos of children and scan the materials somebody from MFO had put up in the lobby until my resistance wore down. Before I returned to CA, I had signed up as a "Padrina," or Godmother. In one of the most recent letters I got from my Godchild, Guadalupe, she had asked me to visit her, and the 50th Anniversary celebration seemed like a good occasion to make the trip.

It's a great understatement to say I'm very glad I went.

I'll always remember our welcome ceremony at the restored hacienda where the children live in Miacatlan. Heart-shaped red balloons hung above us where we sat around a playing field, and signs said "Welcome" in Spanish, English, and German. Each routine was cuter than the next. My favorite memory is when the children from a 4th or 5th grade English class did a synchronized routine and marched around singing in slightly-accented English, "All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love. Love. Love is all you need. Love is all you need."

The theme of the celebration was, "A Journey of Love." For me, and I'm sure for everyone who attended, it really was a journey of love, love given, and love received.

If you would like to know how you can help, go to http://www.friendsmn.org/how_you_help.htm. Here is an apt quote from Father Wasson: "There are not too many children . . .just too few people willing to help them."

My sketch of the statue of Cocoyoc, the coyote, after whom the resort is named