A team of southwestern Ontario residents recently returned from a “work-filled” six-week mission trip to Nicaragua.
Palmerston area resident Mark Robinson, a director of Friends of the Orphans Canada (FOTOCAN), has been taking part in similar trips for the past 10 years.
“When our team of 31 arrived in 2003, I looked around and said, ‘Why are we here? They seem to have all they need.’ That was before I knew of NPH and their philosophy,” states Robinson in a Newsletter to supporters.
Fotocan is a registered, nonprofit organization, that supports “Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos” (NPH, Spanish for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters) homes for orphaned, abandoned and other at-risk children, who live in conditions of extreme poverty, in nine countries in Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
Robinson explains the mission of NPH is “to provide shelter, food, clothing, healthcare and education in a Christian family environment based on unconditional acceptance and love, sharing, working and responsibility.”
While not related by blood ties, every child in the NPH organization is treated as a member of a single family. Raised and provided for as such, none of the children are available for adoption.
“The result of this active philosophy and mission is to engender in the children raised in the homes a spirit of trust, confidence, and sharing toward others; attitudes which are rare in persons with histories of abuse or being abandoned,” Robinson notes.
Earlier this year, four teams of volunteers went to Nicaragua. Peter and Joy King of Walkerton and Robinson co-ordinate the teams. The medical team experienced five successful outreach clinics. This is the second year they have worked with the local health professionals, seeing to the needs of those in the small villages surrounding the NPH Home
Another team of volunteers was the student team from Sacred Heart High School. Under the direction of Joy King, they accomplished tasks such as treating, varnishing and installing shelves in each of the 10 storage closets in the school building, planting in the rotundas at the girls’ casa area, plastering and painting, refinishing and painting the metal and wooden tables in the dining hall, tilling the field and planting beans (by hand), cleaning out the greenhouse and pruning.
“There was always a need for help in the English class – which everyone enjoyed. Private English lessons were given during some of the free time for the children … they in return, helped some of our team members with their Spanish,” notes Robinson.
Every year the teams do a short presentation for the young people, much to their delight, and they in turn do something for the mission teams. Both groups, brought together for a short time, relive the memories of the two weeks they spend together and through the language of photography, share laughs, smiles and happy tears. Team members also got to experience some of the country with trips to the Masaya Market, a coffee plantation on the side of Mombacho Volcano, a visit to Granada to take in a mass at the cathedral, a boat trip on Lake Nicaragua, and a tour of the coastal city of San Juan del Sur.
Anyone interested in becoming a member of a Nicaragua team in 2014, may contact Robinson at m.v.robinson@hotmail.com or Peter and Joy King, pbjking0755@hotmail.com
For information on teams going to other countries, contact Ruth Blass, at Friends of the Orphans Canada in Woodstock info@fotocan.org.
Costs for the trips are $2,500. This breaks down into three components: $1,000. is allowed for the flight from Toronto, $500. to cover the costs while in the country (transportation, food, side trips), and $1,000 to the orphanage project. Any savings the group can secure on the flight or other costs is added to the orphanage project. Participants may choose to fundraise.
The Fotocan AGM will be held on April 27 at Victoria Park East Golf and Country Club, 1096 Victoria Rd. South, Guelph. For more information contact Ruth Blass (Administrator) at info@fotocan.org or call 1-855-741-4033. Attendees are asked to RSVP by April 15.
