Jonster Celestino Henríquez, Hermano Mayor, NPH Nicaragua

Speech from Jingle and Mingle
December 3, 2025, 2025 – Skyline – Seattle, Washington

Good evening, everyone.

My name is Jonster Celestino Henríquez, and I feel very grateful for the opportunity to be here today.

I’m here to share a little bit of my story — a story of change, hard work, and hope, made possible thanks to God, NPH, and all the people who support this amazing family.

Thanks to unconditional love and generosity, NPH continues to change lives and rewrite the stories of thousands of children in many countries.

I’m one of those stories. And today, I’m proud to share how NPH has transformed my life and given me hope for a better future.

I am from Nicaragua — but from a part of Nicaragua that is forgotten. A place with no schools, no hospitals, no electricity, and no easy access. I am Indigenous, from the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, where our communities live in constant poverty and have been ignored by the authorities for generations.

I remember that in 2009, a group of people came to my village. They had been in contact with one of my uncles, who was studying to become a priest. He told them about the difficult reality of our community, and the NPH Nicaragua team decided to visit us and study the situation of the Indigenous families. When they arrived, they saw the way we lived — the poverty, isolation, the lack of opportunities. They returned to the NPH home, but about 15 days later, they made a list of 15 boys and girls who would be accepted and supported by NPH.

I was on that list.

That is how NPH found me… and that is how my life changed.

In 2009, when I was very young, they brought me to the NPH home. I didn’t speak Spanish. I was scared. And I was sad because I had to leave my mother behind.

I remember arriving at NPH on January 25th, and I had to present myself in front of almost 300 children. But I couldn’t speak Spanish at all.

Even so, everyone welcomed me with so much love. When I cried, they tried to comfort me. And even though communication was hard at the beginning, I remember the caregivers trying to learn words in my language so they could talk to me. After about six months, I was able to understand and communicate — still with some difficulty, but enough to begin playing, studying, and becoming part of the family.

NPH gave me a dignified home, education, healthcare, and most importantly, hope — hope to see life from a new perspective.
For three years, I had no communication with my mother. But NPH did everything possible to bring her to visit me. I remember the day she arrived. I was happy to see her, but at the same time confused. As a child, I thought she had abandoned me. But that day, she cried and told me that everything she was doing was for my own good — that NPH could give me opportunities she couldn’t offer.

That day, at 12 years old, something changed inside me. I understood I had to fight for myself and for my mother. That I had to change our story.

After she returned to my village, I stayed at NPH — but with a new motivation. I studied harder. I wanted to be a good student. I wanted to make my mother proud. And I did. From that year on, I always performed well academically in primary school.
When I entered secondary school, I maintained the same desire to be a good student. Around that time, the house directors invited me to live with the younger boys, helping them with their homework and supporting them as an older brother. I happily accepted, and although there were staff members caring for the children, I had enough time to focus on my own responsibilities and studies.

By age 15, I was no longer the fearful child who couldn’t speak Spanish. Thanks to NPH, I was transforming. I began to feel a strong desire to serve — the same way NPH had served me.

I also became curious about joining the leadership group. At first, they said I had to be 18, which felt unfair. But I insisted because I truly wanted to help. And finally, at age 16, I was accepted into the leadership group.

Being part of this group was another challenge — but a beautiful one. We had to study deeply about Father Wasson, the founder of our NPH family, and learn how to share his philosophy with the younger children. We also had responsibilities in the home, serving as role models and helping with certain activities.

With time, I became the coordinator of the leadership group — the highest responsibility within the group. My role was to guide my peers and ensure we were all examples for the rest of the family. I organized workshops with the Family Services department to help children improve their behavior. I encouraged the group to work closely with the youngest members, with new children, and with students arriving from nearby communities.

We taught them Father Wasson’s vision and philosophy — that NPH is not an institution, not just a school, but a family. A family built on principles and values, with a clear mission: to create a world with fewer children suffering, fewer children in poverty, fewer children forgotten.

To walk toward this mission, we always reminded our brothers and sisters of the four fundamental values of our family: respect, education, love for God, and hard work.
As coordinator, I focused on helping each of my brothers and sisters feel part of the family, so they could believe in themselves and pursue their dreams — breaking the cycle of poverty.

During that time, while working with the youth of NPH, I had the opportunity to travel to three Central American countries to receive leadership training focused on our philosophy and the vision of our NPH family.

In 2016, I finished high school and completed two years of service for the NPH home. During my first year of service, I was assigned to care for one of my brothers who was in a wheelchair. I helped him with all of his daily needs — feeding him, dressing him, washing his clothes, and simply being there for him. That was my role during that first year.
In my second year of service, I was assigned to the general warehouse of the home. Our job was to supply food to the kitchen so they could prepare meals for the family, and we also managed other essential products that we distributed every month or every two weeks to my brothers and sisters. I felt very good during those two years because I was learning so much and growing as a person.

Then, in 2018, I applied to attend the National University of Nicaragua. I passed the entrance exam, and I was supposed to begin my studies. However, I was unable to enter because the university required a political alignment certificate with the current government — a requirement that prevented many young people like me from attending public university. Because of this, I enrolled in a private university with a scholarship to study Social Work.

I truly loved this career because of everything I had experienced at NPH. I had always admired the social workers who constantly looked for ways to help the most vulnerable and find support in any way possible.

After four years of university, when I was only six months away from finishing my degree, the government began to take control of and close all Catholic and private universities. They shut down the university where I studied, forcing me to pause my education. Later, when I tried to re-enter to complete my studies, I discovered that the government had deleted all student records. It was as if I had never studied at all — everything had disappeared.

It was terrible. After four years of hard work, everything I had fought for was destroyed in an instant. I couldn’t fix the situation, and at the same time, my mother was very sick in the hospital. I returned to be with her and care for her.

On October 10th, 2022, my mother passed away while I was taking her back to our hometown. That was another painful blow in my life. I felt like I had lost almost everything I had been fighting for, and I suddenly became the one responsible for my younger brothers and sisters.

After burying my mother, I was left with nothing — no phone, no way to contact anyone, and surrounded by a deep loneliness. I just wished I could stop feeling pain.
But one day, while I was in my village, a group of people arrived looking for someone with professional experience who could train teachers and give workshops for a UNICEF project. I shared my experience with them and explained my skills working with youth, and they made me part of their team.

I traveled to more than 180 small communities, speaking with teachers and young people about how to break the cycle of poverty, how to create opportunities, and I also taught them about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. I was paid for this work, but there was always a police officer assigned to me everywhere I went. They checked my documents and my project materials because they didn’t want me to say anything that the government didn’t approve of. If something in my project didn’t please them, they made me redo it.

It was constant political harassment, and eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore. I spoke with a close friend — an older NPH brother who was already living in the United States — and he advised me to leave the country because something bad could happen to me. At that time, the government was disappearing people who opposed them.
So I made the decision to leave for the United States. I crossed through many different countries, and after many difficulties 5along the way, I finally reached the U.S. border. I requested asylum, and they held me for several days to check my background. In the end, they allowed me to enter.

When I arrived, my first stop was Austin, Texas. I wanted to work immediately, but I didn’t know that everything required a legal process, so I couldn’t start right away. During that time, I reached out to one of my sponsors, who was living in Seattle, Washington. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I told him that my dream was to work and also to study English. He said that if I was truly willing to study, then I should come to Seattle. And because I had always wanted to learn English, I said yes.

When I arrived in Seattle, I started studying English on my own at home because all the schools were full and there were no openings. I waited until the next semester and then enrolled at North Seattle College. While studying there in the mornings, I also attended English classes at UPC in the afternoons. After about three months of classes, I stopped needing Google Translate to communicate with my sponsors. I studied English for eight months and had to pause, but I want to continue so I can finish all the levels and someday study something more.
After living in Seattle for a year, I found my first job at Skyline as a server. Today, I am still working there, and I feel very grateful. This company has given me almost two years of opportunity — the chance to work, to grow, and to serve our residents every day. And for that, I am truly thankful.

As someone who grew up in this beautiful family, I can say that NPH gave me more than a home — it gave me a life. It gave me hope when I had none, love when I felt alone, and strength when I thought I could not go on. I experienced the value of family, learned the importance of education, and discovered that no matter where you start in life, you can achieve great things. Thanks to this family, children like me can grow to become doctors, teachers, lawyers, carpenters, and leaders — people who will serve their communities and continue this cycle of giving. This is not just support — it is a transformation that lasts forever.

Thank you for listening to my story, for opening your hearts, and for allowing me to share a part of my journey with you. Your presence here today means more than words can express.