Rosarito and Tijuana Childrens Centers and Orphanages Part 5

It has been about 4-5 months since our first adventure into Rosarito and Tijuana Mexico to check on and some of the local orphanages and childrens shelters and see how they are doing.

Over the last few months an army of people have jumped in and local news media outlets including The Gringo Gazette published articles on our stories and helped set off a wave of donations.

Now the Christmas parties and fun was over and it was time to go out and visit some more of these local orphanges in Rosarito and Tijuana and see how they operate and more importantly what they operate with.

Come with us as we meet more kids in Rosarito and Tijuana orphanges and see how they help the kids and the resources they are working with to do so.

Photo: The entrance to Casa Hogar, the first stop on our trip on the outskirts of Rosarito.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

The fist stop on our trip was to Casa Hogar San Inocencio, just on the outskirts of Rosarito. Casa Hogar San Incencio is a 8 1/2 acre ranch complete with its own church, library, computer room, soccer field and basketball court. It is also the home to about 22 boys mainly in their early and late teens.

In Mexico many places release the children back to the streets at age 12, or age 16. Casa Hogar helps take care of the kids from ages 9 to 19 and provides for kids with everything ther need to go out and make it in the world.

Here is the Padre for the orphanage who was a very nice and warm man. He explained how the program operates and explained that this facility was for teenage boys.

Here is a quote from the groups website at http://www.projectmexico.org
"Due to a complete lack of facilities in the Tijuana area, orphan boys are usually only cared for until the age of twelve when they are put out. Forced to fend for themselves, the majority end up living on the streets. This sad situation leads to neglect, abuse, criminal activity, and even death. Initial attempts to survive may be innocent enough: selling gum on the streets, dusting cars at intersections, and other odd jobs -- anything to earn a few pesos for a mouthful of food. Authorities agree, however, that this lifestyle quickly and unquestionably leads to criminal behavior such as stealing, drug use, prostitution, illegal border crossing, and serving as "coyotes" (i.e. leading other illegal immigrants across the border into the U.S. for a fee). Obviously, these children have absolutely no access to education or social and spiritual training. Without intervention, they are destined to live out their lives as criminals, addicts, gang members, and prostitutes on the streets of Tijuana and San Diego.

Project Mexico has purchased a beautiful eight and one-half acre ranch, complete with buildings and a fresh water well....an ideal place to raise young boys! Situated near Rosarito, Mexico, the orphanage is home to boys aged nine through nineteen. St. Innocent Orphanage seeks not only to meet the boys' basic needs but to accomplish much more. They are guided in the Christian life, receive a quality education and are encouraged toward academic success, learn vocational skills, participate in sports, are counseled appropriately by trained professionals, and are showered with a tremendous amount of love from the staff and frequent visitors both from the United States and Mexico. All of this, plus a structured and loving environment, allows a miraculous transformation to occur. Instead of fending for themselves on streets filled with crime, drugs, and prostitution, they now have the freedom to prepare for a bright future and to become givers, not takers."

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here is the entrance to a small church which is on the 8.5 acre ranch.

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The church is beautifully decorated inside with beautiful oil paintings, oriental carpets and nicely tiled floors.

Here is a look at the church from the front door.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

The Padre explains that the area behind the doors is exclusively for the priests who perform the services.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

"Our goal", the Padre explains,"is to make sure these kids have a solid spiritual and educational foundation for going into the world".
"We like to think the kids have a better chance of succeeding with us due to the extra attention and facilities we have than many would have living with families in the area".

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

The area behind the doors where the priests prepare mass.

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One of the many beautiful and colorful paintings in the church.

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The pictures of the Holy Trinity from the Bible showing The Father (left), The Son, (middle) and The Holy Spirit (far right).

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

The Padre is a very smart man and as we walked around the grounds the very next place we went to visit was his "Special Office".

All of the kids work on a points system and when they accumulate a cetain amount of points they can redeem them for candy or toys, which is all this room contained.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

The kids are very well taken care of thanks to the help of many Americans and church groups from around the world in coordination with ProjectMexico.org.

Here is a look at the computer center which is loaded with brand new computers and excellent study facilities.

This was purchased through grants given from the Mexican Govt.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here is a look at the library on the ranch which also has plenty of study space for the kids.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here is a look at the ranch area outback complete with a basketball court, soccer field, a small farm building and several small homes and trailers for guests to stay in while coming to help out.

In 1990, Project Mexico began coordinating with a group of Mexicans to establish an orphanage for teenaged boys in Tijuana. This effort to address a critical social problem was a natural outgrowth of our goal to relieve suffering in Mexico. The orphanage would serve as the home base of Project Mexico where the groups would eat, sleep, pray, and after 1996, be a part of the boys' lives. Many groups came and worked exclusively at the orphanage, helping them to complete a great number of important projects. After extensive labors to receive official approval from the Mexican government, St. Innocent Orphanage opened its doors in September 1996.

Click Here to Visit the www.ProjectMexico.org website

Volunteer to Help Build a Home in Mexico for a Special Family click here

The Life and History of Saint Innocent
Click Here

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

The Project Mexico group is very blessed. Here a worker puts the final touches on a window frame in the brand new kitchen building.

The Padre explained that someone came and saw the need for a kitchen and donated the money on the spot to have the place built and furnished.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

The kids here receive a lot of love and support. As the kids come home from school they go to hug the "House Dad" and director, Mr. Jose Sanchez. Him and his wife are the head administrators of the orphange and live on the ranch with the kids.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Mr. Jose Sanchez and some of the children from Casa Hogar San Inocencio pose for a photo.

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Orphanatorio Emanuel Tijuana

After we said our goodby's to the Padre and the kids in Rosarito we headed into Tijuana to visit Orphantorio Emmanuel in Tijuana. It is run by Sr. Eduardo Mendez and is located about 2 1/2 miles east of Revelution Blvd. in Tijuana

This is one of four homes run by Eduardo for boys from the ages of 2 to 20.

Each home seperates the kids by age and as the grow up they continue to move into new homes until the finish high school at which time they are offered additional schooling to help them in finding a good job. This was the home that Mario (one of the super cool kids who was in a couple of our earlier articles and as of 2 weeks ago finally got his papers to go to the staes and live with his adopted American mother who had helped take care of him for the past 12 years.) was raised in and Mario was one of the first generation of kids to graduate and move on to starting a new life. Mario had been at the shelter since the age of about 3 and when we last saw him he was living with and taking care of some of the kids in the La Gloria Orphange, which housed the kids that were from about 2 to 9-10.

Here is the front entrance to the El Rubi location in Tijuana which is the home to about 24 boys in age between 9-15.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

One of the reasons for our visit is to see how each place functions and where they get their support. It is sometimes very amazing to see the difference in funding from one place to another. The El Rubi Orphange was a place that could badly use some "tlc" and home improvements. I documented many of the walls and the conditions of the building so you can see the difference from one place to another.

Here is the inside area of the El Rubi Orphange.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Inside we met Eduardo and his staff including his wife Ana.

Eduardo and D.I.F. (the social services dept. in Mexico) estimate there are over 12,000 homeless children in Mexico and more than 3,000 in Tijuana alone!

We sat down in there office and watched a slide show on the computer showing us the faces of the girls now living in the streets that Sr. Medez is trying to help.

It was a very moving piece well done by one of the children who graduated from the orphanage. It was not one for the faint of heart.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Eduardo and his wife recounted for us through a translater (Rick) how they started the orphange. It was a simular story as we had heard before. Eduardo was a partor in a local church and he often saw the kids living in the streets and sleeping in cars to survive. He knew that this life was a dead end that would eventually lead to crime or some type problems that would derail the life of the kids

He finally broke down and one day went to a parked car and asked a young boy if he would like to come stay in his house. That eventually led to asking another child in and so on and so forth to the point they had four kids living with them and they needed to grow and expand.

Tears welled up in their eyes as they retold the story for us and remembered how emotional it was geting started.

Right now Eduardo and his wife are trying to get a childrens shelter opened for just girls. Currently in Tijuana their are NO ORPHANGES THAT ARE ONLY FOR GIRLS. This is mainly because for a long time there was a much larger number of boys on the streets than girls. Now the homelessness problem for kids and there is a great need for a childrens center for girls.

Right now the project to get the girls shelter built is stalled because of lack of money. Eduardo estimates that they need about $60,000 dollars to finish the project which is currently about half built.

It is very painful for him to not to be able to help the little girls he drives by in the streets everyday.

I told Eduardo that we would try to help him get the word out to help him in fulfilling his dream of getting this going.

Here Eduardo and Ana stand by the conceptual drawing of what the center will look like when it is finished.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here is a look at one of the bedrooms in the house. The home itself is solid and the kids have plenty of toys, blankets and some of the bare essentials, but there is plenty of need still here as far as fixing up the place and setting up donations to help with feeding the kids, getting clothes and paying for expenses like doctors and transpotation. Eduardo estimates that is costs about $100.00 per month per child to feed and take care of their needs.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here is another one of the walls in the boys dorm area. It is in bad need of some help of someone who can do drywall and perhaps donate some paint for painting the whole place.

Although the living conditions may not be perfect, there is plenty of love and the kids have all of their basic needs met.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here is the courtyard with some of the boys posing for a photo.

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We met a little boy named Jesus who was just brought in off the streets about a month ago. Jesus was a great artist and loved showing us his work.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Jesus poses with Kirsten and Michele as they show off the new pictures the Jesus drew and gave to them.

This little boy was a great artist and had pictures of Spongebob Squarepants that were almost perfect and not traced but drawn freehand.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Eduardo does not speak any english and he feels that it makes it hard for him to get donations and publicity for his childrens homes. I understand since everyplace I have seen that is doing well in Mexico is doing so because of help coming from the United States. The majority of help comes from religous organizations in the states and around the world.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here is a picture of Eduardo and his kids and staff along with our volunteers Kirsten, Rick and Michele.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Jesus scores on a skooter we brought with us from a donation dropped off at our office. As we got ready to go we told Eduardo we would go by and see the little kids at the La Gloria Orphange and drop off some more toys and donations brought to our office.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here two little girls show all smiles as they grab onto the new skooter they received which was another donation dropped off.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com

Here are more of the kids from the La Gloria Orphanage smiling for the camera.

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Some of the kids playing with the toys we dropped off.

Photo by RosaritoBeachOnline.com