As the vans full of UCLA students pulled up in front of the orphanage alongside a pothole-filled dirt road in Tijuana, Mexico, children cheered and waved from behind the gates of the compound.
A mob of excited children greeted the students as they entered the grounds of the orphanage, offering hugs and choruses of “hola,” which means “hello.”
On Saturday, a group of UCLA students from campus organizations BruinHope and the Fellowship for International Service and Health visited the Tribu de Jesus orphanage for the day.
The trip was part of a community service effort during which students got hands-on interaction with the local children, learned more about some of the social issues in the Tijuana area, and taught a lesson to the children about healthy habits.
As introductions were made, the children quickly latched on to volunteers, holding their hands and leading them on tours of the orphanage.
For the children who could not remember a volunteer’s name, all the visiting students were called either “sister” or “brother.”
The orphanage is home to more than 80 children, as well as a menagerie of animals including chickens, goats, cows, dogs and cats.
Edith Palomino Meza, the general director of the orphanage who was interviewed in Spanish, said the orphanage environment is often an improvement over the homes the children come from, and she believes the children really enjoy living there and are quite content.
Not everything in the orphanage is ideal, however. Meza said getting enough food for all the children can be a tenuous, day-to-day process. The orphanage itself is located in one of the poor valleys surrounding Tijuana and is fairly dilapidated, and the children have to share beds.
Throughout the day, children played with the animals and with each other, roamed the dirt hills behind the orphanage, jumped rope, and played Twister and soccer.
“It just really surprised me how much the kids looked after each other,” said Kristin Isabelle, a visiting student from Northeastern University, about the close-knit and friendly interactions among the children.
Lorena Ventura, head of BruinHope, said through interactions with the children, she hopes the students can learn about the different social issues that affect the community in Tijuana.
“Not only are you doing community service, you really can learn. We want to educate the students of the backgrounds the kids come from,” she said.
Meza said one issue that affects children is the prevalence of drug use in Tijuana.
Many of the poorest children come from drug-addicted parents who are unable to adequately care for them, Meza explained. The orphanage approaches the parents and offers to care for the children and help the parents get into a rehabilitation center.
This means many of the children still have parents, and therefore the orphanage keeps siblings together ““ which many other organizations do not do ““ and does not allow adoptions.
Though many of the children have parents who are alive and remain in the area, Meza described them as spiritual orphans, explaining the neglect and abuse the children have faced in their families.
Meza said the orphanage is funded with some money coming from religious organizations, but most of the money comes out of the workers at the orphanage, who do not receive a salary for their work and hold outside jobs. The orphanage does not receive government aid.
Ventura said it is this dedication on the part of the orphanage staff that helps the children overcome the challenges of their environment.
“The love that (workers at the orphanage) give to the kids helps them to be liberated from the difficulties that they’ve encountered,” she said.
Despite the difficult pasts of some of the children, volunteers noted that the energy and spirits of the children were amazingly high, and said they really enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with them.
“I felt encouraged,” said first-year biology student Christian Andalon, who went on the trip.
“How can kids who have so little be so happy?” he asked.
This playful nature changed and the children became serious when it came time for the lesson that some of the student volunteers had prepared on healthy habits such as the importance of eating nutritious food and exercising regularly.
The children were enthusiastic participants, excited to show off their knowledge during the lesson. They couldn’t resist shouting out the answers to questions, and when they were made to raise their hands before speaking, their arms quivered with eagerness.
For the rest of the day, the volunteers played with the children, challenging them to games of soccer, pushing them on the swings, or chasing them around the yard.
Meza said because of the difficulty of finding support for the orphanage, she is very thankful for BruinHope and the work the students do with the orphans.
“To me (the students) are heavenly. They always come with a lot of help … and with love for the children,” Meza said.
Ventura said BruinHope became officially recognized as a UCLA student group in fall quarter of 2005, and was founded as an alternative spring break program, receiving funding from the undergraduate student government.
The program then expanded to include trips throughout the school year. Ventura said the group tries to have one trip a month during school, though the highlight trips are during winter and spring break.
With evening approaching, it was time for the students to leave to make the trek back across the border, though not without some new friends and memories.
Nhu Tran, a third-year sociology student, said she had a particularly moving moment with one of the young girls at the orphanage.
“I just held her, and she looked up at me and said “˜Mama,'” Nhu recounted.