Stretches From Mexico to Arizona : Orphanage System Began With 1 Small Thief

What today is a wide-ranging and successful system of orphanages began more than 30 years ago when a newly ordained Roman Catholic priest found himself testifying against a homeless boy who had robbed the church poor box.

The Rev. William Wasson, a native of Phoenix, Ariz., asked authorities if he could take the boy in.

Within a week he had eight more homeless boys, and by the end of the year 32.

Since then, the orphanages called Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, “Our Little Brothers and Sisters,” have taken care of an estimated 6,000 children.

‘Just Kept Growing’

“It just kept growing and growing,” said Wasson, 62, who still heads the the system since founding it in August, 1954.

He attributes much of its success to his rule of “unconditional acceptance.”

“No one can do anything so bad that they can get thrown out,” he said.

The children arrive at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos orphanages destitute and homeless, either parentless, abandoned, neglected, battered or abused.

Leonardo Osorio Contreras, 50-year-old supervisor of the orphanage here, told a recent visitor that 67 children were currently living there.

Sixty-nine, his wife corrected him--two more had just arrived.

1,000 Children

In all, the orphanages now care for about 1,000 children at any one time.

Three miles up the road, hundreds of children from age 6 to their late teens are housed in a hacienda surrounded by 142 acres of land they till themselves.

The Rev. Phil Cleary, a 32-year-old priest from Chicago who has been working there for the last two years, said young children adjust to the new surroundings quickly but that it takes about three months for older ones.

Most orphans are in the main Hacienda San Salvador at Miacatlan and the rest are in schools and other homes scattered from its administrative headquarters in nearby Cuernavaca to Mexico City to an English-language school in Yarnell, Ariz.

Considered Outcasts

Mexican orphans, especially in the poorest classes, become outcasts. They usually are split up among the various relatives and become, Wasson said, “sort of a second-class member.”

One of his rules is that if one sibling is admitted, brothers and sisters come too. With the large families common in Mexico, especially at poverty level, it is not uncommon for nine, 10 or 11 children of one family to reach a Wasson home.

“They never feel they belong unless they’re here together,” Wasson said.

Wasson, who studied for the priesthood at the Benedictine College in St. Louis, became ill before his ordination and traveled to Mexico in 1949.

Strong Sense of Family

“Then I fell in love with Mexico,” he said in an interview. He stayed, recovered from his thyroid illness and was ordained in 1953 by the bishop of Cuernavaca, a resort city 45 miles southwest of Mexico City.

He said the orphanages attempt to build as much as possible on Mexican cultural values. The family rule, for example, is very much in the tradition of parientismo , the sense of family that is so strong in Mexican society.

The children at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos generally are unavailable for adoption because of the strict Mexican adoption laws. But a sponsorship program permits a “godparent” to pay a regular monthly fee and stay in touch with the child.

The children are given a sense of responsibility that can start even with the youngest, who might tote small stones to a mason building a wall.

Activities Stressed

“The best way to do it is to keep them tired, keep their lives full of activities,” Wasson said.

Each child must complete a year of service for the orphanage after finishing secondary school.

Although many go on to universities in Mexico, the United States or in Europe, Wasson said, the goal is not necessarily to turn each child taken off the streets into a doctor or lawyer; it is to make a dent, as much as possible, into the massive problem of homeless children.

Wasson said he has seen figures ranging from 45 million to 80 million homeless children throughout Latin America.

He has become a global fund-raiser, working with foundations in Canada, the United States and Western Europe to keep Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos going.

“We’ve never asked the government for anything, and they’ve left us alone,” he said. “We’re solvent, but just on a daily basis.”