Rancho de los Niños | 1.24 Update

About three months ago I packed some belongings and drove down to Mexico where I am currently living at Rancho de Los Niños. Rancho de Los Niños is an orphanage in El Porvenir, a small village about an hour and a half south of the U.S border. Rancho spreads out across nearly five acres with more than 115 people living on the property. About 90 kids, from infants to young adults, call Rancho home. There are multiple houses on the property where the children live based on their age and gender. All the homes are watched over and ran by house parents who live in small apartments inside the homes.

I am currently living in one of the dorm apartments right in the center of the property. I really enjoy waking up every day to the sounds of little voices running around and being in the center of the action. Many of the schools in Mexico have not resumed to being back at the schools. This has created a need for the orphanages to get teachers to help onsite with distance learning so the kids do not fall behind. I have been working with the 5th and 6th graders alongside a young woman named Lee. She speaks English, French and Spanish and is quite a hoot.

The kids at Rancho de Los Ninos had a great holiday season and were blessed by many different groups of people visiting and donating via Venmo. After wrapping up a family wedding and the holidays up north my family and I caravanned down with the rest of the physical donations that had been dropped off in my hometown. We were able to get about five suitcases of clothes and the rest of the diapers, school supplies, games, books, and toys down to Rancho. The kids enjoyed having my family here in Valle de Guadalupe and we were able to celebrate with tacos and a mechanical bull (true Nino style).

Many people gifted Costco gift cards over the holidays - I was able to use some of the Costco for groceries for Rancho. The grocery haul for Rancho Included a lot of protein which can be very expensive to provide on a weekly basis for 90+ kids and house parents. The new year also brought a new running group. We now have a Rancho running group and run together every day at 4 - it is a ton of fun even though the boys (and dogs) leave me in their dust daily.

The rest of the Costco gift cards were used for the girls at Cañon Buena Vista, an orphanage south of Ensenada. Cañon Buena Vista is off the beaten path and about an hour and a half south of where I am living. I was told by my mentor that they do not receive a lot of visitors so I wanted to go check It out. The orphanage is currently home to 27 girls ranging from ages 8-17, and two boys ages 4 and 8. I am hoping to try and visit these girls bi-weekly In the future and come up with some fun activities to do with them.

Prior to the holidays I realized I needed to shift the game plan a little bit. Getting so many physical donations across the border logistically can be pretty tough. Moving forward I will be focusing on the food needs and daily supplies.

The past few weeks have been exciting as we welcomed a young mother and her newborn to Rancho. I have been spending a lot of time alongside her and love watching her grow as a mother and take care of her baby boy. This mother son duo has made me slow down a bit and truly reflect on the time I have had here so far. I am beyond thankful for my new home, these amazing kids, and the experience I am having.

Rancho de Los Niños exists through the support of generous communities and individuals, near and far. I have been very blessed with family and friends who have been insanely generous to the children of Rancho through physical and monetary donations. If you are interested in helping out or visiting - please do not hesitate to reach out.