By BOB FUSELIER
Los Alamos

Editor’s note: This is the third of a three-part series about the NPH’s work in Latin America. Please see previous part one here and part two here.

Marlon’s Emmaus moment came somewhere during his early 30’s. Before that, he had experienced the love of his two parents early in his life, enough to give him the confidence needed to survive living on the streets of Tegucigalpa as a young teenager. He had also felt a tremendous sense of abandonment as a young child when his mother died and as a young teenager when his father told him that he could no longer support him. On the streets, as difficult as that was, he experienced the kindness of strangers who supported him and offered advice. These experiences from the earliest stages of his life journey helped prepare him for what was to come.

At sixteen, he was invited to live at NPH. There, he was given unconditional love and the opportunity for an education, was taught that he was responsible for his actions and his life, and learned the benefits of work and the importance of sharing one’s resources, even if they are limited at the time.

At NPH, he also found mentors, people willing to listen to his stories. Some were his fellow brothers and sisters at the orphanage. Some were his teachers. He learned that he needed to love himself and, later, that he loved himself “too much”. He earned his college degree and decided to share it with his huge extended NPH family, which had grown to include at that time homes in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua.

During his story, Marlon recounted that he had learned and put in place the five values that Fr. Wasson had established for NPH so many years ago. It was obvious from his recounting of his life at NPH, that the values had served him well during his time as a pequeño and later as a teacher and mentor in the homes. But it was not enough. Something was missing.

He shared that, at some point during his work with the group of troubled boys from the home in Nicaragua, he had a realization that, while what he was doing was good, he was doing it for himself. At that point, he decided, felt, chose to do it for God, for love. At that point, his vocation changed.

Marlon’s story is not rare amongst those who were children that found a home at NPH. Fr. Wasson’s believed that a secure home with unconditional love and an education will not only allow children to flourish and reach their given potential, but also better the communities in which the children would live when they left. His belief has been proven to be a reality year after year, decade after decade, throughout Latin America.

During its early years, NPH caught the attention of benefactors such as John Wayne and Helen Hayes. Later, Fr. Wasson’s work received the praises of people such as Fred Rogers, Placido Domingo, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa and Senator John McCain. Even the noted psychologist and sociologist Eric Fromm was moved by his studies of NPH’s children in Mexico. 

Fromm wrote in his 1970 book Social Character in a Mexican Village, “What is remarkable, however, is not only the absence of major behavioral problems but the presence of a spirit of cooperation and mutual responsibility.” He added, “In spite of the fact that this is a rather large institution, it is conducted in a nonbureaucratic spirit. The children are not treated as “objects” to be managed by a bureaucracy, but are loved and cared for by Fr. Wasson and his assistants, in spite of the fact that they now number 1000.”

Fr. Wasson did not set out to solve the problems of the poor in Latin America or prove that unconditional love, education, personal responsibility, work, and sharing are what children need to develop into who they were created to be. He simply offered a home to an abandoned boy stuck in prison. He simply planted a seed, and now those former seeds are planting seeds.

NPH has always counted on support from others to continue their work. Today, they’re facing both the effects of inflation and the increased need of their services within the countries they operate. If you’re interested in helping, they would greatly appreciate your support. Whether that support is financial or potentially as a volunteer, please contact Belinda or Jennifer at (602)703-6915.

For more information about the NPH’s work in Latin America, please visit: nphusa.org