Helio, Pequeño, NPH Mexico

Reported by Vanessa Cruz
Communication Officer, NPH Mexico

From a remote community called San Rafael, in the mountains of Guerrero, Helio* came to NPH with his elder sister Isadora* in 2015. Their father is a farmer, and their mother sells the vegetables that her husband harvests; they couldn’t support their children’s basic needs or help them to have a better quality of life.

Their parents, desperate and suffering because they were not able to offer their children a better future, requested information regarding Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos™. They knew about NPH because they had heard NPH supports children from a nearby community, mostly ‘Mixteco’ indigenous youth.

Both children arrived speaking very little Spanish because their first language is Mixteco, and also with a very low education level.

“In my community’s school, the teachers didn’t attend for weeks, and even if we didn’t learn, we passed to the next school year,” says Helio when I asked him what he thought of his previous school.

“The fact that they placed me in elementary school instead of junior high affected me a bit, because the kids in my classroom are younger than me, but I know they did it so I can learn and improve. Here, I found friends in high school, and I play football and basketball with them and have a lot of fun.”

Helio’s parents told their relatives who have children in the same economic and educational conditions about NPH, and they also decided to send them to us.

“Here with my sister and my cousins, we talk about things from our town, like when we went hunting and ran in the mountains,” says Helio, “but we knew we had no chance of a better future”.

Shortly after their entry, Helio and Isadora were sponsored by two wonderful people.

Helio tells us that he is very happy and grateful for his godparents because without them he would not be here studying, and surely he would have left school to help his parents. “My godparents help NPH so we can have food, clothes, my uniform, school and even for the possibility of playing football; here I have many beautiful things, too.”

Helio’s greatest dream is to become a great professional and help his parents, “I would like to be a doctor, engineer or architect. My older brother always tells me to be a good student so that I can become what I want in the future.”

* Name changed for privacy purposes.

Related Information
• Our Homes: NPH Mexico
• Sponsor a child at NPH Mexico

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