Volunteer in mexico: children's shelter of hope, puerto vallarta

I returned to the shelter sporadically end-to-end the next few weeks, slow advancing my Spanish-language proficiency by initiating small talk over dirty dishes and wrinkled laundry. Once I had names down and had proven myself as a trustworthy volunteer—significance willing to pitch in on the job so as to relieve the older kids of wash and drying an endless pile of dirty dishes on their own—I realized that I wasn’t devising all of the cultural advances any longer. Instead of request questions, like “What is it about cayenne?,” I was answering questions, like “How big is paddy Mouse in individual?” inside weeks I was visiting the house on a more habitue basis, greeted every time without fail by a bustle of hugs and instantly joining in on the events of the afternoon.

The shelter houses an norm of 45 kid who are in need of lodging and care. These kid range in age from baby to young grownup; currently the youngest is seven calendar month and the oldest 13 years. Care is provided for any amount of time that their household are not able to provide for them. There are several children whose primary election guardians are either in jail, dead person, or involved in harlotry. These kid will probably live in the shelter until young maturity, at which point they are able to leave in hunt of employ and other lodging. Catholic nuns (madres) live on the land, as well as several paid staff members who work with the different age groups. Volunteers from all over the world help tie the loose ends, performing miscellaneous chores such as bathing, feeding, changing diapers, cleaning the facility, etc.

Like most nonprofit organizations, aggregate income comes directly from donated funding. The fourth annual R.I.S.E. Fundraiser was held on February 18, 2007. Overall we raised $32,000, enough to sustain the shelter for more than six months.

Everyone involved in this cause is privileged with an awareness of a life lived differently. I’ve learned a lot about how to work with underprivileged families and how to motivate myself as well as others to respond to such a lack of opportunity. The children are educated, healthy, and happy. There is no doubt that they leave the shelter with more than what they have coming into it.

When choosing to move abroad, I made a point to have as few expectations as possible. My only goal was to become a part of the community and make myself known to the people of Puerto Vallarta as someone interested in their culture. With many successes and failures at this attempt throughout my visit, volunteering at R.I.S.E. Was by far my greatest accomplishment.

Lynne Simpson is a recent graduate from the University of California Santa Barbara. She grew up traveling around the world with the company her father worked for, and she has traveled independently throughout Europe, Mexico, and the United States. She currently lives in Santa Barbara, Calif.