NPH Orphanage … what it’s all about!

NPH ( “Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos“; translates as: Our Little Brothers and Sisters) has 19 orphanages in 9 countries, located in both Latin and South America. The NPH orphanage in Guatemala was founded in 1996 and houses 345+ children ranging in age from 0 – 21 years of age. Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos was founded by Father William Wasson over 50 years ago on August 2, 1954, in Cuernavaca, Morelos, México.

My job position: Home Coordinator.
The responsibilities of the HC include, but are not limited to, an annual report, a quarterly newsletter, website updates, projects and photos.
Not only will I be suitably responsible for the Guatemalan web updates but I will also be able to pursue my greatest loves of photography and journalism.
The true challenges will lie in the translation of Spanish > English and English > Spanish (at the moment, “Hablo Espanola un poco” = I speak a little bit of Spanish).

Guatemalan History:
“Guatemala is home to the very rich and ancient culture of the Mayans. Guatemala is classified as a third world country, where poverty and child orphanage / abandonment are very real issues; the third world problems are obvious: high population growth, a 50% illiteracy rate, pollution of the environment, and a huge contrast between the capital Guatemala City (>2,000,000 inhabitants) and the villages in the peripherals of the country.
Life in democratic Guatemala is pretty much peaceful, although there is still tension between the indígenas, the Ladinos, and the whites. The current national population is about 12 million. The currency is the Quetzal, with 7.4 Q equal to about 1 US$. The cost of living is very inexpensive.
Guatemala is a tremendously beautiful country. Perhaps more than any other Central American country the native culture here is very much alive. You can still see indígenas wearing their colourful traditional huipiles and praying to their ancient gods.”

A map of the area where I am going ….