"We Have A Dream"
This is our 3rd article on The New Horizon Childrens Shelter in Rosarito Mexico. The New Horizon Children Center is a group of 22 boys ages from 2-18 who are either orphaned or have some type of family situation which does not allow them to live at their house. (ie: alcoholism, social abuse, money conditions etc..)

We first heard about the childrens center from an article in The Gringo Gazette, when their animal neighbors at the Baja Animal Sanctuary caused a few of the children to get mange which cost the childrens shelter $60.00 to remedy. That part was not too big of a deal, although there is more on that as well, but it was the part of the article in The Gringo Gazette which also went on to mention that these kids were living off of a "$400.00 per month budget".

We decided to go visit the childrens shelter and find out how you raise 22 kids on a 400.00 per month budget. This is our third trip and third article on this childrens center. In addition to coming back to visit, we also went off to visit three other orphanges in the area and see how other places down there get by and what their lives are like.
If you would like to start at the beginning of the series click here and you can catch up to our adventure.

"We Have A Dream"
On our third trip to the New Horizon Ranch Childrens Center we were met by more happy and loving people with a ton (literally) of food and supplies along with more happy smiling faces. Sharyn had come back with her family and with their local group of friends they had raised a huge amount of food, carpet, clothes and other goodies badly needed at the New Horizon Childrens Shelter. We arrived at the shelter just after a days worth of rain. The area out where this shelter is can be a challenge to get to. As we approached I could see getting up the driveway would be impossible for a normal car on a day like today. (Thank God I came down in a truck today:-)))

"Beatrice nice to finally meet you", I said as I smiled and shook here tiny hand. Beatice Morales was the "administrator", or person in charge and as I later found out ran the place with her husband Don "Oscar" Kisor Jr.

"Beatrice we have a ton of food, clothes and more goodies for you" I said as I stepped aside so the others could introduce themselves. She was clearly stunned and not sure how to handle such overwelming good news along with all the happy smiles and now 3 SUV type vehicles in her driveway with essentials they were struggling to maintain and keep.

This was the third time I had been to the shelter and it was the first time I was able to meet Beatrice. Beatrice Morales "Kisor", introduced me to her husband Oscar and explained that between the two of them they ran the childrens center. I kept the "Morales" because my family is from here and they recognize the name as being Mexican" she said smiling.

Beatrice herself was taking care of her own 4 month old baby, and was only 27 years old. She was a small woman just over 5 feet tall and looked like she was not a day over 21 years old. "I have not been able to spend the same type of hours here with the new baby", she said with a smile, "although now I am starting to spend more and more time and get back to normal hours now that my baby is getting older".

As I chatted to her I flagged down Hugo, one of the volunteers who helps cook and take care of the kids.

"Hugo we have a ton of stuff here again and need your help loading it up". He smiled and knew we were back with more goodies as he had been my main contact until now. Since he spoke very little english he just smiled and replied "Thank you very much", which was something he had learned simce we had stearting coming down and was about the only english he knew.

I had a box sent to my office from TriArts Screen Printing -a company in L.A. with some warm jackets for the kids and I could not wait to get those unloaded and show Hugo. The first time I arrived at the shelter in October there were 6 jackets for 22 kids and they were all larger sizes. Now with this last contribution and the others that arrived today and previously all the kids had jackets. Thank God I thought as it had been freezing cold the last few days and with the rain it did not make a good mix.

The unloading of supplies took about 35 minutes and I had no idea how much stuff you could fit in a Suburban and Astro Van. "Wow" I said as we picked up 50 pound bags of flour, rice, beans, and other staple items that looked like it was all bought as COSTCO in large sizes.

After the unloading was done I asked Beatrice how she started this place since it seemed pretty amazing to me that 2 very young people in their 20's were making this their lifes work and running this place on very scattered donations finding them and faith alone.

"We started this place almost 7 years ago", Beatrice explained "My husband and myself were sleeping one night and were awakened by someone in the back of our house. We woke up and found that it was 2 young kids going through our garbage looking for food".
"The incident had a huge impact on my husband and myself and we realized we needed to do something", she said.
"I knew our home was not a practical solution so we decided we would build a place on some land that Oscars father owned outside of Rosarito".

"We had a dream that we could build a nice center and take care of the children we saw and the many other like them in our nieghborhood".

So these two (almost kids themselves) took it upon themselves to make a mission of helping children in the Rosarito area.
"We do get some donations from a local Baptist Church in Chula Vista, but there is not a regular flow of money and raising 22 children can bring a lot of challenges".

Over the years groups of people have come out to visit and them help build the structures on their property.

"Oscar, you and Beatrice stand over by the area where you want your basketball court so I can get a photo", I said as I got them to stand together for the photo above.

Food, Food and More Food ..Unloading the food:-))
Here Beatrice Morales and volunteers help go through all the goodies.

When the vehicles were finally unloaded there was food all over all the counters and stacked on the floor to be organized and stacked in the pantry.
Needles to say they were very excited and overwelmed with the amazing generosity which has been flooding in from the kind readers of The Gringo Gazette.

New Jackets!
Thanks to the kind donation of a local Southern California printing company (TriArts Screen Printing) 20 new jackets of all shapes and sizes were donated to the children.

Now each child should have a warm jacket or at least a thick windbreaker to wear.

More clothes and a ton of carpeting
A happy group of volunteers smile as more bags of clothes and supplies are given to the kids.

I was amazed when looking at the photo. Since the first visit we have at least doubled the clothes the kids had to work with thanks to alot of very kind hearted people from all over both Mexico and the U.S.

"Beatrice we have marbles for you", I said as Sharyn walked over to show her the bag of marbles and little playtoys assembled for the kids to play with.

The first time we had arrived the kids were playing "marbles" with rocks.

Needless to say Beatrice was overwelmed. When I told her this was the tip of the iceberg for other items on their way but not yet here from the states she was speechless.

The refrigerator
The refrigerator works pretty well, but they need to get either one more freezer or another unit like this.

Because there is only 1 small freezer they cannot store food or take in excess amounts of freezer materials like ice cream , meats, etc..

If someone knows where we can get another one cheap, or can donate one it would be great!

Here is what was in the refrigerator.

2 seperate groups of kind people had donated both turkeys and chicken to the kids and they were very excited about getting the donations.

But... The Oven does not work and they did not mention that before when I was there.

Now they have the food, but they cannot cook it.

"Hugo since your the famous one here stand by the oven for good luck so I can get a photo".

The burners work, but the oven itself has not been working for some time.

It would be great if we could get this fixed before Xmas so the kids could eat their turkeys.

Beatrice took time to talk to us about the shelter and how they make ends meet.

"Most of the kids get referred to us by neighbors or family members when they see problems that are affecting the children". "We meet with these people and tell them we can help the children while they work on solving their individual situations", she went on to explain.

Currently we need to get the bathrooms finished with tile, we could use a new washer and dryer and there are a few other things which we are working on", she said.

Wish List
Food
canned food
(not outdated since social services do come in and check food for dates)
Fresh fruit
Pancake Mix
Beans
Rice
Bread
Peanut Butter
Jelly
Cereal


Materials
Tile
Cement Mix (for driveway)
Paint
*Anything else which can be useful

Other items needed....

Gloves, warm hats, mittens,
Computers, new or used
TV set(s)
Sporting equipment ie: baseball gloves, frisbees, bikes, basketballs,
*Oscar and Beatrice really want a baskeball court built wo if someone could donate the post and the basket, that would be really awesome.

They are also looking for help and materials to pave the driveway. A group of construction workers from Northern California will be coming down to donate 1 weeks worth of labor to helping Beatrice and Oscar do more improvements and fix ups for the kids. If anyone can help out during the week of January 10th -January 17th, or has materials they can provide please email us here

Beatrice Morales, the director of the New Horizon Childrens Ranch
Along with her husband Oscar, they run the center.

"Beatrice can you give receipts for those who give cash donations for tax purposes in the states"?, I asked since many folks had asked if they could donate money to the childrens center, or other goods which woould require a receipt.

"Yes they can donate and get a receipt", she replied as she smiled "but I have only used 2 receipts in the last 2 years and almost never get donations".

"There are many kind people who would be willing to help you if they just know how", I replied.

She smiled and showed me the receipt book so I could get a photo.

Monthly Bills
Here is a list of some of the bills the center struggles to pay each month. We would love to see a private or corporate sponsor help pick up one of these monthly bills to start giving The New Horizon Childrens Center more stability financially.

Water = 200.00 per month
4 times a month ($50.00 per delivery) water trucks come and fill up the water containers the kids use for showers and normal water usage.

Electricity = $150.00 -$200.00 per month
Currently they are afraid to run the space heaters too long because they are always struggling to pay the electric bills. If someone could provide a monthly donation that would pay this bill or even a chunk of it would be a major blessing for the kids.

If you can help out with any small donations please call our office or Beatrice direct for more information.

Oscar and Beatrice #'s
USA ## 619-929-6580
Mexico# 011-52-661-613-0984

Here Oscar watches as the younger children prepare to go on a little field trip.

Here is the driveway area of the childrens center. Beatrice has wished that they could pave the driveway and lot area so it would be easier for them and visitors to get in, especially after or during heavy rainfall.

I asked Beatrice about the incident with the dogs and the kids getting mange.

"I like dogs she replied, but as a Mom I had to make sure no more children came up with a rash".

I asked her if anyone from the shelter came down to try to help out or pay for the medicine.

"No one ever came by to say they were sorry or to pay for the medicine", she relied.
"I finally went to the paper as a last option she relied".

I knew she was right when she told me and that she really went there out of desperation.
She was a tiny little woman with a very humble demeanor and not a person who was unreasonable or hard to work with.

As a volunteer at the shelter for many years I used to love to drive in or park across the road with goodies for the dogs.

I also used to love to be greeted by the friendly dogs, young and old who always came with tails wagging to say hello to the visitors. It was a great feeling and in those days years ago it was never a problem.

Now however things have changed and there is now a park across the street and no parking. The new "land boom" has gotten many projects, which have been dead for 10 years+, now going again with life.

The road which was barely driveable in the rain was now rolled out flatter than I had ever seen.

Things were moving back here fast with new development and the days for the shelter would be numbered anyway because of the new growth.

"Typical American's", I thought, "They would rather sit and critisize the childrens shelter rather than walking over to remedy the situation with a $60.00 check and an apology".

Now this problem has blown up and caused a real political problem for the shelter over $60.00?

Beatrice said "I would have never taken the matter that far if someone would have just come down and apologized and help pay the cost of the medicine".
"I could not risk it happening again".

"Someone from the BAS needs to get down here and apologize and resolve this mess asap", I thought to myself. "This is a public relations mess which needs to be cleaned up and resolved with a $60.00 check and a handshake and apology.

The dog's should not suffer the bad P.R. for a human's lack of intellegence to deal with the matter in a dignified manner.

The whole notion of "saving the animals" does not mean squat if you are causing problems to children with no parents barley surviving 100 yards down the road and lack the basic intelligence to maintain communication and help each other out

"Those dogs turned out to be a blessing in disguise Beatrice", I said smiling "If it was not for them, I would have never heard about you and all these acts of kindness may have been missed".

We both laughed and Beatrice agreed that it had turned out very good for both of us since we got to meet some very cool people and beautiful kids and the rest of the Baja area and U.S. found a nice little family of "ninos" to adopt and take care of.

"Would it be okay if someone came by to apologize", I asked

"I would be happy to meet them", she replied smiling as we were getting ready to leave.

It would help diffuse a lot of tension for the BAS shelter and would be a good way of having a happy ending for both parties involved.

It is also a good lesson about making peace with your neighbors. It is important to reach out and offer assistance to those around you to have the support of the local people.
Jim Drake, a local pastor who helps run a orphange in Tijuana said it the best in his book Journey of Faith, "When we reached out to the community and offered our help (tithings), our donations began to grow and our orphange became a place which helped thousands of local people with extra meals and blankets". "Even though we were also very needy we realized it was important to reach out to the community and do what we could to those who were even less fortunate than ourselves".

If the BAS begins to offer assistance to the needy, in addition to the dogs, they too will have support with the local people and their problems with government officials will soon go away
and problems like this will never re-occur.


If you would like to contact Oscar or Beatrice
with a donation or help of some kind
their numbers are below.

Oscar and Beatrice:
U.S. 619-929-6580
Mexico 011-52-661-612-1795

Current Wish List

Food: Bread, Fresh Fruits & Veggies

Clothes of all kinds including undergarments, sweaters, and shoes

Tupperware -all shapes and sizes for leftovers

Construction materials
they want to pave the driveway and add on to their curent structures.

Anything that you think is useful is greatly appreciated!

THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE AND SPONSORS!
For your kind donations and help:-))....it has been quite awesome and overwelming!

Jose (Pepe) Enriquez of AM-MEX Services
1680 Hilltop Dr. Chula Vista, 91911
* 80 lbs of chicken:-))

Mrs. Rebecca Grass at Country Estates in Ramona
*Food & Accessories Donor:-))

Miguel & Martha Barragan of Colima's Produce
On the corner of 4rth and "C" Street in Chula Vista.
* Food, Produce, and Juices:-))

Mrs. Kochitl Gastelum of Coffeen Farmers Insurance
at 4th and "C" Street Chula Vista.
*Food Donor:-))
International Market and Henry's Market in Chula Vista
Donated 100 LBS or Rice and Beans and have ofered anything we need at cost:-))

Mr. Allan Tokunaga of Tri Arts Screen Printing
Mr. Tokunaga sent us a box of 15 warm jackets from his silk screening business!
Tri Arts Screen Printing
Hollywood California
818-982-4236

*Thanks again to all the sponsors and volunteers mentioned before and not yet mentioned because I have been a little short on time lately:-))


As we mentioned in our 2nd article the food is being raised by the very kind and generous of Mr. John Gaselum who met the kids and saw their living situation and food supply and went right to work asking for food donations.

A big thank you to John and his daughter Chelsea for all of their help.

If you have food you would like to donate please email Chelsea at tassili@earthlink.net

Baja Animal Sanctuary
If you have the ability to help out the Baja Animal Sanctuary with food, pet adoption in the states, or can help
build new shelters for the dogs or help with a small donation.
(which are also badly needed)
The animals need some basic shelters set up to protect them
from the elements in their new home outside
of Rosarito and can always use food donations and kind support.
To see the Govt. problems they have been facing lately read the
San Diego Union Tribune Article
by clicking here

Visit the Baja Animal website and see the work which has saved thousands of pets in Mexico
Baja Animal Sanctuary Rosarito www.bajadogs.org

The beautiful grass hills outside of Rosarito with horses just wandering and grazing about.

Wew, all that thank you stuff can get kind of mushy:-))....As we headed out Rick told me of three other places he had tracked down through the Tijuana social services department and we decided to check out some more of the places and see how they were doing.

"Are there more places running this close to the edge", I thought.

We would find out soon as we headed up the "Free Road" to Tijuana, right on the north edge of Rosarito and more of the barrio section of town.

Here was another childrens center that we visited.

There was actually another place we went to first but they had plenty of help and really did not need anything.

The place was run by a man named Jim Drake who moved his wife and himself to the location in South Tijuana about 15 years ago.

"God had told him" to go and serve the children so he sold his home and bought a trailer to live in "to stay humble" and then began to build out the childrens center which now is home to nearly 70 kids.

Through strong ties to Christian Churches in the states Jim Drake has been able to flourish and provide a very nice life for the children in his center.

I have to say I was very happy to hear that "We are all set here".

"Wow, that was the first time I was happy to hear I'm not needed".

Rick and myself both chuckled and we said the same thing and headed to the car to find another place run by social services about 1 mile away.

NOTE:
Although they may not have needed our "help":-)) they are always doing fundraisers and special events and perhaps a small donation to help them keep going strong would be in order if that is something you are able to do.
It is very encouraging to see a well run place with a strong group of people doing very charitable work in very humble living conditions.

When they started the toilets were overflooded and the kitchen was overun by maggots. The children were dirty, poorly clothed and the place was an absolute mess.

They sold a nice home in Temecula and gave up an $80,000 a year job to do the one thing they could not find anyone else to do...take good care of the kids.

After going through several administrators, they finally decided to live on site and do it themselves.

They spent years struggling and just making it by with paying the electric bills and expenses and now can still use help if you can provide anything of assistance.

* When we left we were both given a book called "Journey of Faith", which was written by Jim Drake and talks about his moving to Tijuana and giving up everything with his wife to help these kids.

It is an awesome book and it will help you get a real grip on what is important in life if you want something inspiring to read.
Make a donation to Jim and his wife and have them send you a copy and help him continue his wonderful work.

This is a growing place and they do a TON of outreach to the local Tijuana community through food drives, blankets, providing dental care to the poor and a host of other programs which serve the the very needy in their area.

Donations can be made from the website below.

Here is their info:
Christian Home for Needy Children
Jim Drake -administrator
1-619-417-5662
colinadeluz@missionsmail.org
La Gloria Tijuana
www.colinadeluz.org


This was another childrens center which was about 1 mile from Jim Drakes place.

Unlike the other center this one was run with proceeds from the government and the children in this location all came from social services.

Here Rick peers in to see if we are at the right entrance.

Because of the nature of these neighborhoods, the childrens centers are set up like compounds with big walls and barb wire fences.

A look at the inside of the childrens center.

Here are a couple of the kids which came running up as we looked around for adults or a supervisor to speak with.

The kids had a little pet dog hanging out to play with.

Mario, the person on the left found us and said he was in charge along with the lady to the left who helped take care of the kids. This center had 30 kids, 28 boys and 2 girls.

Mario explained that he had been raised here since he was a young child and that now he was here to take care of the little kids making sure they got to school and had some supervision.

"Mario can we take around the place"?

"No problem", he replied as he began to give us a tour.

"Let me get a photo of the kids that are here before we get started", I asked sensing that this may be the best time to get a group of them together. Since we were strangers we drew some curiosity and when the camera came out the kids became more lively.

"Uno...Dos...Tres", I said as a took the shot.

The two little girls spent the majority of the time with the house nanny. There is one little girl on the far right hand side of this photo with the nanny.

Here is a look at the classroom area inside the building.

This location did not have a dryer and the kids had been caught in the rain.
The kids had to hang out their school clothes on the desks to dry out.

Mario explained that he was adopted when he was a young child by an American woman, but because of the paperwork logjam, it had taken nearly 15 years and thousands of dollars to try to get him legal residency in the United States.

I remembered what they had said at the orphange Jim Drake ran down the street.
"In 15+ years only 2 children had been adopted because of the social situation in Mexico and the complexity to adopt and go through the thousands in legal costs with attorneys.

Mario was a super nice and well mannered young person about 22 years old who was going to school and also dating a girl in the states.

"She comes down here to visit me", he said "but soon I will be able to travel to the United States to visit my Mother and girlfriend".

Some of the happy little faces following me around the house during our tour.

Here is a look at the living room area the kids had to play in.

It was nice to see they had a nice tv and a vcr in there.

"This would be an awesome place to see ABC come do a home make-over", I thought to myself.

This was one thing that Beatrice needed was a nice living room area for the kids to play indoors. This place was nice because it was warm and indoors, but a little sprucing up with some fresh paint and carpet would help liven it up more and make it more productive.

Hhhhhmmmm.....looks like we can use some clothes in this place:-))

Here my little buddy stands in the closet so I can show what they had for clothing.

This childrens home needed some minor window repairs, curtains to protect from window drafts, and of course some fresh paint and carpet would be great, but as far as essentials go they needed more food, clothing and warm blankets for these kids.

Because it has some government funding there are some basic essentials, but there is still plenty of need for these happy little kids.

The photos do not lie as I have learned from past experience.

"If I can document the actual living situations and what these kids have with photos, then there is a chance people will help", I said to Mario as he showed us around.

"I need to see how much food you have", I said making my way to the pantry.

After seeing the bare shelves at The New Horizon Childrens Center I wanted to make sure that I covered that section of the house.

Here is a photo of the kids pantry area. It looks like there is a lot of food, but there is mainly condiments and things on this shelf area. The kids live on beans and rice mainly.

"Hey little buddy open that door for me", I said as I also motioned the action with my arm.

Here is what they had in the fridge.

"Not too bad", I thought although I was sure that they would be happy for any additional food donations we could provide.

This was the only refrigerator in the place and there was no freezer.

"This is what the kids at New Horizon Ranch needed, something bigger to hold more goodies", I thought "At least I am not going to be going home in anxiety over kids starving to death as I had when seeing what Beatrice was working with down in Rosarito".

These kids however do need food badly and they need a freezer so they can keep things cold and accept more food donations.

Adopt one of these kids or the whole bunch and start making a positive impact on their lives.

A poster on the wall with some of the children staying there.

It would be great if Americans could find and make contact with some of these children and be pen pals and "God Parents" making sure they have presents for birthdays etc...

The bottom line is that none of these children have much chance of ever being adopted and they seem to learn to live amongst themselves and become there own little family.

There are many good and loving children down here who could use some interaction and support from loving families and adult people in the states.

Mario is the main contact down there.
They do not have computers in the shelter, but Mario does check email at school where he is learning computer skills.

If you can donate food, labor to help fix the windows, curtains, blankets or anything else you may contact us or contact Mario direct below. This place is running on a bare minimum budget to get by and there are many things they could use some help with to help make life a little better for these happy little faces.

marioalbert_401@hotmail.com
Casa Hogar Emmanuel
011-52-(664) 6.36.11.27 (as it was written and given to me)
These were the numbers Mario gave me, but I did not realize he did not give the area code for the section of Tijuana he was in. I filled it in later with the same numbers from Jim Drakes place down the street.

Since Mario was raised in the orphange since he was 3, he knows all the other orphanges in the area.

Rick had done us a huge favor by taking several days to find the first 2 places by going there before we arrived and finding the locations.

"Mario, I can give you a $20.00 donation to help us get to the other orphange down the street.

"No problem" he said as he smiled.
He would have been happy to do it for free, but I figuired it was a dignified way to offer him a $20.00 donation

He was a very gentle kid with a very personal and polite demeanor.

He also spoke good english which allowed me to speak direct and not through Rick as an interpeter.

He we are coming to the gate of another location that Mario knew about close by.

This center had been started by a Tijuana minister who also was raised on the streets.

This shelter was run all from private funds and had 30 kids, 15 boys and 15 girls.

Although the day was a little grey and getting dark, things were lively inside with a nice little dance program being held for the kids to have fun and get some excercise.

This was "Alexandro" or aka "Alex".

"Alex, can I check out your pantry area", I said motioning him to stand next to the food, "I document the food amounts to make sure I don't miss asking for donations when that is needed".

I still felt bad that I had been to the New Horizon Childrens Shelter and did not go into the pantry until the second visit. It was empty and I did not know how bad they needed food.

This time since Rick and myself were trying to learn more about other orphanges in the area I was going to make sure the kids were eating okay as a first priority.

We had gotten such an overwelming response of support from people reading our article and the 2 articles in The Gringo Gazette talking about the need of the children at The New Horizon Childrens Center.

Mario and Alex explain that they cannot turn on this freezer until they get the electric box fixed outside.

Even though this thing was not working I was happy to see they had some super nice equipment in the kitchen.

"There is an American who comes down each week and brings us $600.00 to raise the kids and support us", Alex explained, "Without that we would not be here", he said smiling.

Alex went on to explain that the man relied on his church for the money and that through the generous donations of church goers he was able to collect the money each week to keep the kids going.

The girls dormatory area.

The girls dormatory area.

This area was very nice and clean with lots of nice clothes and a very clean living enviroment.

A little face peeks out to see what is going on while the visitors walk through.

Alex went on to say that American missionaries have been coming out building and working on improving the facilities over the past 10 years or so.

The tile here in the bathroom came from a church group in New York.

The church organized the labor and then bought the tile and spent a week living here improving the bathroom. When most folks would rather take a trip skiiing or hitting the beach, these wonderful souls decided to do something which would greatly impact the quality of life these little girls would have growing up.

This is what would be ideal for the New Horizon Childrens Center. They badly need the bathrooms tiled and are being requested to do it by the social services group in the Baja area.

Currently Beatrice and Oscar need someone who can donate the tile for this project.

Here is the electric box which needs to be re-routed.

They have a brand new box which would allow them to use electricity in their kitchen appliances if they could just get it fixed.

"It needs a special person who is an electrical contractor, or someone from the city", Alex said.

A look at the front section of the childrens center in the La Gloria Barrio section of Tijuana.

"We need money for security equipment", Alex said. "Safety in this area is a concern and we are an easy target for thieves".

Alex went on to say that they needed more fencing and security equipment to protect the kids and wanted us to mention that on their wish list.

This childrens center has a very active group of American's coming down and adding new buildings and redoing the interiors.
In addition they are getting donations and getting ready to open up a computer room for the kids.

Big plans are underway to expand the center and open up more beds for more needy children.

I love to see real entreprenuers taking charge and making things happen. I have long held out the idea that social change for projects like this needs to come from entreprenuers and not Govt. in both the USA and Mexico.

These folks are real movers and shakers and they are helping provide a loving place for children who have been abused or orphaned.

The girls's dormitory area.

2 of the little girls out playing in the courtyard area.

This complex had built a huge guest room section for volunteers visiting the area.

Mario and Rick make their way up to this section.

"Wow" I exclaimed, "You can sleep about 25 people in here".

"Yes, and this is just the men's room, there is a seperate one for the women", replied Alex.

Here is the lady's room with another 20+ beds and mattresses.

It is easy to see how many things get done when you can accomodate such large groups of people.

This is a great example of another shelter doing well.

The childrens play area outdoors.

As darkness crept in we prepared to say goodbye and head back to Rosarito.

We told Alex we would put his info in the article to also help build support for this place as well.

These sections of Tijuana were very rough and it amzed me that somehow, someway and American or two had found a place to plug in and start dedicating their lives to making the lives of the children here better.

Casa Hogar Cindad de Angeles
Alexandro Martinez
aletmase@hotmail.com -Alexandro is on the premises and can be reached at
011-52-664-903-8070

These kids can also use food of all types and other types of help.

For more information on how you can help them contact Alex or Ken LaPoint at 650-867-4859
*He is the contractor who has been helping build out the new housing
kenl@casabuilders.org

Visit their website below

http://www.tjkids.org

We headed back into town and decided we would visit the other 2-3 places in the next week or two. We had run out of daylight and had been on our feet most of the day.

"Mission accomplished", I said to Rick smiling.

"That's for sure", he replied. "We will get together again soon and check out the rest of the places," he said.

"Sounds good" I said as he left the hotel.

"What a day", I thought to myself as I made my way upstairs ready to swan dive on the bed and relax for a while and to reflect on what we had learned and seen.

Click Here to Check Out Rosarito Mexico
About 45 minutes South of San Diego