Guadalajara Reporter

For the past two weeks, seven students from Vashon High School in Washington State have been volunteering at Casa Hogar Nacidos Para Triunfar (Born to Triumph), a shelter in Guadalajara that is home to 131 children.

While many educators might be hesitant to bring teenagers to a country portrayed in the U.S. media as a hotbed of drug violence and corruption, Sally Adam, the coordinator of the program, believes it’s a great opportunity to change young Americans’ misconceptions about Mexico.

“I really enjoy seeing the way the students from the States evolve while they’re here. They come with closed ideas about Mexico and leave much more open-minded.”

Students Caryle Scott and Lily Katz admit that they were warned to “watch out for the drug cartels and the swine flu” but after two weeks in Guadalajara believe “the images of Mexico as a violent, drug-ridden country are polluting everyone’s perception of the country.”

For the past two weeks, seven students from Vashon High School in Washington State have been volunteering at Casa Hogar Nacidos Para Triunfar (Born to Triumph), a shelter in Guadalajara that is home to 131 children.

While many educators might be hesitant to bring teenagers to a country portrayed in the U.S. media as a hotbed of drug violence and corruption, Sally Adam, the coordinator of the program, believes it’s a great opportunity to change young Americans’ misconceptions about Mexico.

“I really enjoy seeing the way the students from the States evolve while they’re here. They come with closed ideas about Mexico and leave much more open-minded.”

Students Caryle Scott and Lily Katz admit that they were warned to “watch out for the drug cartels and the swine flu” but after two weeks in Guadalajara believe “the images of Mexico as a violent, drug-ridden country are polluting everyone’s perception of the country.”

The students come to Guadalajara as a part of long-standing community service program. They spend 12 days in the shelter and organize a number of artistic and sports activities for the children.

For the children of Nacidos Para Triunfar, the visit is a definite highlight of their summer. They come from dysfunctional or extremely poor families and frequently face discrimination from local children in the neighborhood. The opportunity to play with the American students is a special treat.

“They are so fun and friendly,” says Sagrario de Jesus Lopez, 16, who has been at the shelter for seven years.

The students are equally as enthusiastic about the kids. “You just walk through the doors and they come up to you and give you hugs,” says Natalie Kerns, 17.   “They don’t even know your name but it’s like they really appreciate you being here.”

Adds Katz, “There’s a lot of love. You make bonds pretty quickly.”

It’s easy to spot the love. Rowen Eister sits with three young children asleep in her lap while other students are chased by an onslaught of kids. Matt Dick, the only guy among the seven, walks around the playground with a happy young boy hanging around his shoulders. At any one time, a child is liable to run up and hug one of the students. At Nacidos Para Triunfar there are no barriers between Mexicans and Americans.

It has been an eye-opening experience on many levels. Cradling a sleepy five-year-old in her arms, Katz says, “I think some of us came here just thinking of doing our community service but for everyone it has turned into something completely different.

“We appreciate everything more. We realize how blessed we are to have a family.”

The program has also led some students to question their consumerist values. At Nacidos Para Triunfar the most important thing for the children is community. The shelter is really one big family with multiple brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.

“I’m often astonished by the non-material nature of their comments,” says Adam, a Spanish teacher at the Harbor School in Vashon who has been bringing students to Guadalajara for nine years. “They realize the material things in their lives are a mistaken priority. It’s a shift of their priorities. A number of students said that it’s changed their lives and been a transformational experience for them.”

Says Scott: “We’re not staying in a five-star Hilton hotel in Cancun. This is real Mexico not the ‘American bubble’ Mexico.”

Having discovered and fallen in love with the “real Mexico,” the students leave for the States promising to “spread the word” that Mexico is not such a dangerous place and hoping, in the words of Scott, that “seeing us not just swimming in the water and drinking margaritas has changed some people’s opinions of Americans.”

Meanwhile, the children of Nacidos Para Triunfar will travel to school in their windowless, graffiti-painted bus and eagerly wait until March 2010 for the Vashon High School’s next visit.misconceptions about Mexico.

“I really enjoy seeing the way the students from the States evolve while they’re here. They come with closed ideas about Mexico and leave much more open-minded.”

Students Caryle Scott and Lily Katz admit that they were warned to “watch out for the drug cartels and the swine flu” but after two weeks in Guadalajara believe “the images of Mexico as a violent, drug-ridden country are polluting everyone’s perception of the country.”

The students come to Guadalajara as a part of long-standing community service program. They spend 12 days in the shelter and organize a number of artistic and sports activities for the children.

For the children of Nacidos Para Triunfar, the visit is a definite highlight of their summer. They come from dysfunctional or extremely poor families and frequently face discrimination from local children in the neighborhood. The opportunity to play with the American students is a special treat.

“They are so fun and friendly,” says Sagrario de Jesus Lopez, 12, who has been at the shelter for seven years.

The students are equally as enthusiastic about the kids. “You just walk through the doors and they come up to you and give you hugs,” says Natalie Kerns, 17.   “They don’t even know your name but it’s like they really appreciate you being here.”

Adds Katz, “There’s a lot of love. You make bonds pretty quickly.”

It’s easy to spot the love. Rowen Eister sits with three young children asleep in her lap while other students are chased by an onslaught of kids. Matt Dick, the only guy among the seven, walks around the playground with a happy young boy hanging around his shoulders. At any one time, a child is liable to run up and hug one of the students. At Nacidos Para Triunfar there are no barriers between Mexicans and Americans.

It has been an eye-opening experience on many levels. Cradling a sleepy five-year-old in her arms, Katz says, “I think some of us came here just thinking of doing our community service but for everyone it has turned into something completely different.

“We appreciate everything more. We realize how blessed we are to have a family.”

The program has also led some students to question their consumerist values. At Nacidos Para Triunfar the most important thing for the children is community. The shelter is really one big family with multiple brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers.

“I’m often astonished by the non-material nature of their comments,” says Adam, a Spanish teacher at the Harbor School in Vashon who has been bringing students to Guadalajara for nine years. “They realize the material things in their lives are a mistaken priority. It’s a shift of their priorities. A number of students said that it’s changed their lives and been a transformational experience for them.”

Says Scott: “We’re not staying in a five-star Hilton hotel in Cancun. This is real Mexico not the ‘American bubble’ Mexico.”

Having discovered and fallen in love with the “real Mexico,” the students leave for the States promising to “spread the word” that Mexico is not such a dangerous place and hoping, in the words of Scott, that “seeing us not just swimming in the water and drinking margaritas has changed some people’s opinions of Americans.”

Meanwhile, the children of Nacidos Para Triunfar will travel to school in their windowless, graffiti-painted bus and eagerly wait until next summer's visit by the Vashon High School.