NPH Nicaragua Celebrates 29 Years of Helping Children

Jader Elía Rayo, National Director of NPH Nicaragua and a former pequeño, reflects on nearly three decades of helping Nicaraguan children in need.

May 12, 2023

Dear NPH Family,

Today the NPH Nicaragua family is celebrating 29 years since being founded. These are moments of joy that we want to share with you, because they are also part of our history.

I want to tell you a small and beautiful anecdote when NPH Nicaragua was legally constituted:

On February 28, 1994, the teacher José Luís Mejía, Padre Wasson and other people were in Nicaragua when they called the authorities in Managua to organize the constitutive act certifying that Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos – Nicaragua was legally registered in the country. Upon arrival, the authorities handed over the certificate to Father Wasson and let him know that it is valid for 100 years and from that Father Wasson made a little joke (here I make a little parenthesis to also tell you that he was a person who loved to say small jokes), “We will be able to renew after we are 100 years old, right?” In the room where the people who accompanied Father Wasson were, they laughed happily.

One might say that we are 71 years away from renewing our constitutive act.

Father Wasson was still not satisfied only with the constitutive act. He said that NPH Nicaragua still needed its essence: “Boys and girls”, that very soon he would call them “my sons and daughters”. On May 10, 1994, the first girl arrived at NPH Nicaragua; she was admitted through the support of the las Hermanas de la Caridad – Sisters of Charity (congregation of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta). When she arrived, Father Wasson was filled with great emotion and knew that wonderful things would come for his sons and daughters.

Celebrating this 29th Anniversary with you is an honor for me, since I am one more pequeño who grew up in the bosom of this great family where I received food, education, study, and, above all, love and protection, like all the boys and girls who are currently part of NPH. In our history there have been more than a thousand boys and girls who practice and live every day the philosophy inherited by our founder and that we also proudly call: “father”.

Before finishing, I want to thank all those who support us unconditionally with much love. I greet our friends who have been and are part of this great family through these long years. I want to acknowledge and thank the hard work that the collaborators at NPH Nicaragua, the great work of you makes our boys and girls live in a loving, calm and family environment, and finally congratulate my brothers and sisters of NPH Nicaragua for being 29 years old, you are the engine of this big family.

God bless you today and always.

Sincerely

Jader Elía Rayo
Hermano Mayor (“Older Brother”) and National Director of NPH Nicaragua

Related Information
• NPH Nicaragua
• Our History
• How Your Help Makes an Impact at NPH