south of the border

It had been over a year now since I'd gone down to Mexico to visit one of the homes that Corazon De Vida supports, so it was with a bit of welled-up anticipation that I joined about 40 or so other early risers on Saturday morning to head down past the US-Mexico border. Our destination was Hacienda Imaculada, just outside of Tijuana.

Corazon De Vida (Heart of Life) is an Irvine-based not-for-profit organization that clothe, feed, shelter, and educate the children living in the orphanages in Baja, Mexico. Currently, out of the 50 Baja shelters, CDV is supporting 14. Many of the kids living in these orphanages were mostly found living on the streets. Some were brought by their parents who do not have the resources to care for them. While others are abandoned and orphaned.

As soon as I walked into the orphanage, outstretched arms beckoned me to pick up the owners of those limbs. A five-year old boy (I think his name is Luis) immediately "adopted" me and played with me. With only a handful of adults supervising over a hundred kids, it's not surprising that Luis, like all the others, crave for some attention. While we were there, we cooked up a birthday lunch for the February birthdays, played soccer, pushed the kids on the swings, did face paintings, put together some jigsaw puzzles, and basically, just hung out with the children for a few hours.

Upon our departure, the children gathered at the front of the home and waved an enthusiastic good-bye.

Click here to find out more about CDV, the work that they do, and information on sponsoring a child.

More pics here.