mh

CREATIVE PROJECTS MEXICO

Nederlandse versie

The team in Mexico and Alfred/Nellie give you a warm welcome.

Our goal is to give children in Mexico back their self-confidence through creative projects and sports.
In addition, we want to give the children the opportunity to read, to read a lot, so that their world becomes bigger.
Creative projects and sports help young people to process (traumatic) experiences from their past and to give them a place.
And dreaming away in a book, getting to know yourself better through a book, also contributes to giving a place to what has happened in your life.

We want to offer these options:
a. in the family home of NPH (Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos) in Cuernavaca
b. to children in the vicinity of the family home
c. to children who live/live on the street in the surrounding neighborhoods of the city

This page covers the following:



We distinguish the following categories for the implementation of the projects.


Theater

Working on the confidence to present yourself in front of an audience. Using your body as an instrument and therefore training your body: learning to relax, breathing exercises, working with voice, on facial expressions. Become aware of your body. Working together, putting something on the shelve that makes the audience (and yourself) think.

Quote from one of the younger:
"When I play I forget all the bad things."

Dance

Increase the expression of the body.
Learning to express feelings in motion.
To learn the folkloric Mexican dances that tell the history of the country.


Quote from one of the younger:
"When I dance I'm no longer sad but happy."

Music

Expressing emotions through the instrument you play.
Sing or make existing songs that touch the heart (yours and your audience) and express what is going on.
Develop a sense of rhythm.

Quote from one of the younger:
"When I make music I become completely light inside."

Drawing/painting

Representing what lives in you by shaping it on paper.
Learning to observe.
Working with colors.

Quote from one of the younger:
"I love working with colours. Sometimes it's so dark in my head but when I start painting it becomes light in my head."

Sport

We all know that sport is good for us.

Many young people participate in the creative projects. And we see what that brings them. But there is also a group of young people who love sports and the money that was available for this in the past has dwindled more and more. The family home has to make choices and the shelter (accommodation, food and school) increasingly consumes the available budget.

That's why we want to make sure that the boys and girls who like to be on the football field, play basketball or run up and down stairs with the athletics group or enjoy a treadmill in their spare time to de-stress, can continue to do so.

We are looking for gyms, physiotherapists, athletes or others who consider sport of paramount importance to ensure that we can buy sports clothing, sports shoes and sports equipment.

A library

We discover ourselves as we read. In some characters you recognize yourself, in others you distance yourself because of a clashing character. Research shows that readers often make connections between the book they read and their own identity. In this way, stories can help in the development of your personality and self-awareness.

One of the reasons reading is good for you.

A number of other advantages at a glance: higher concentration, richer language, broadening our thinking and world view.

And what about the text above the niche of the library of Alexandria "place for the healing of the soul".

Now we are busy setting up a library for the youth in Cuernavaca. The books we get (for free) are very dated. There is therefore little 'reading material' for young people, even though they really like to read.

That's why we've "embraced" the library and are looking for writers, bookstores, reading enthusiasts, poets, and other bookworms to support it.



mh


   New developments and plans.


History


How it started

In 2005 I, Nellie Markus, came into contact with the organization Wereldouders and I became a 'world parent' (together with my partner) by Antonio Adan. WereldOuders (Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, NPH) aims to structurally improve the lives of children in poor countries. WereldOuders raises funds in the Netherlands for the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos organization in Latin America. The work of this organization is characterized by intensive, loving guidance of children, good (medical) care and education, both in their own homes and in the surrounding community. In 2006 we traveled to Mexico to visit Antonio Adan. We were impressed by meeting him. And impressed by the family houses. During our first tour, words spontaneously bubbled up like warmth, involvement, love, sincere attention to the children who visibly enjoyed it; the flip side was the confrontation with children whose eyes spoke volumes. Makes sense, if you know their background. Mexico, Antonio, the orphanage, it never let go of us. A new journey followed and the meeting with Andrés, a friend of Antonio, from whom we are now also padrino.

History of WereldOuders

I read about the history of Wereldouders and I do not want to withhold the story of Father Wasson from you. A man with a mission; that was William B. Wasson, the founder of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH). After studying law and sociology, he left the American state of Arizona for Mexico, aware of the great poverty in that country. He was ordained a priest in the town of Cuernavaca in 1953 and was given charge of a church in the Tepetates district. He first set up a daycare center there for poor children. When a homeless, hungry boy in jail after stealing money from the church's collection box, the priest took responsibility. He took him and eight other boys—including those from prison—into his own home. The foundation for Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos – literally Our Little Brothers and Sisters – had been laid.

“When children learn to love, they will be loved. That is the basis that ensures that they work carefully and consciously. Later that will have a major impact on their own children and the society in which they live.'

Father Wasson

The children and young people have shelter, food and good education and love. And that is extremely valuable and (life) important.

And we want to add something to that, namely the possibility that young people can participate in creative projects, in sports and dream away in a good book.
Both the children in the family home and in the area.



Wat is our dream ? What do we want to spend the money from the donations on?

Stop it, you'll never succeed!
Anyone who ignores this advice is already halfway there.


The opportunity to participate in creative subjects throughout the year. That means drama, dance, music or drawing and painting lessons every week. And an annual theater production. Together with the teachers, the young people can tap into a theme that touches them. A theater production offers everyone the opportunity to participate: actors, dancers, musicians and young people who want to draw/paint (they can make the decor). Working together on a project creates connection, you stand for something, you all put something down.

Specific: money for skilled workers, money for equipment, sheet music, theater texts, attributes, drawing material, dance clothing.



The young people outside the family home come from neighborhoods where poverty plays the main role. They do not have the money to participate in creative projects. And the children who live further away do not have the money to travel by public transport. So we would like a bus.
A. to collect the young people so that they can participate in the projects.
B. if we are going to perform with a play, we also need transport.

Specific: Used bus, money for petrol and maintenance.



Visit to a theatre/dance performance/museum/concert
Give young people the opportunity to visit a performance once. Spending an evening in the theater and being presented with a world that makes you forget everything around you for a while. Or lose yourself in a dazzling dance performance. Wander around a museum and dream away at the works of art you see. Dream away to the sounds of an orchestra. Of course we first asked what the children would think about going to a performance. It didn't just stop at a 'SI'. 'To a real theatre!' A deep sigh. "That would be like a dream come true." 'A dance performance. See how they do it. Whow, I'm going to learn a lot from that.' 'A real museum!? Geez, if you could.' 'A concert hall alone seems so beautiful to me. And then music.'

Specific: money for a performance, a visit to the museum and the travel costs.

At the moment, there is less and less money in the family house for sports. That is why we have 'embraced' this branch. There is no longer a budget for sports shoes and sportswear. Entering a tournament costs money to travel to the venue of the event. And some of the young people desperately need extra sports and we would really like to buy sports equipment so that the young people can train themselves in their free hours. They have already been through a lot before they ended up in the family home and what we notice is that extra facilities for sports are desperately needed.

Specific: money for all kinds of sports.

A real library where young people have a choice of contemporary books. Books that inspire them, increase their self-knowledge, enlarge their world and books that you can dream away in so that you forget everything around you for a while.

Specific: money to buy books.