My name is Greg. I am joined by seven close friends who recognized a problem. I see "problems" every day. Things that aren't right, that shouldn't happen. Unjust. Unlawful. Inhumane. But like many of us, I feel for a second, and then it slips from the foreground of my consciousness. And that's okay. Because we are all human, we can't shoulder the entire world alone. Can we really make a difference anyways?
This is the beginning of a story of how 8 young twenty-somethings aspired to feel more. To help more. To love. How a girls' orphanage in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico filled our hearts and inspired us to change. Upon reading you may be surprised to find that this world exists but a stones throw from our border. The stories of these girls are all heartbreaking. But as quickly as your heart wrenches, their smile can mend it. We hope that our experiences and their stories will also move you to action. But we don't ask for much more than your time and a few dollars. And together we can shoulder the burden of the world, one child at a time.
A beginning...
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico is the most dangerous city in North America...
A major entry point for drugs into the U.S. The drug cartels have owned this town for some time. Three cartels ran the show for many years. But one of the cartels fell from its high seat, resulting in an imbalance of power. What was previously an area of ironic peace, erupted into a violent drug war. Kidnappings and murders. Fear became very tangible. Carlos n' Charlies, Cadillac Bar, and Senor Frogs were once popular night spots for college students, traipsing across the border to party, became eerily quiet and empty.
In contrast to the exodus of tourists from Nuevo Laredo, something else was happening here. Thousands of families from the interior of Mexico and Central America flooded the border towns trying to reach America to survive from poverty. Yet far away from the front lines, Americans were writing policy to tighten security at the border (we are not making political insinuations here... seriously... this is not our mission). Many families were left in an odd sort of limbo in Nuevo Laredo. Those that were determined to stay together, were reduced to living in cardboard shanty towns like the colonia Blanca Navidad (which you can read about later) in extreme poverty. If they chanced reaching America, the father would cross the border leaving a family behind, many times these men would never be seen again. They would start over in America leaving their family in Mexico to starve. Or if they stayed, men would join the drug cartels, a bleak future of death or prison. The mothers would ultimately choose prostitution to make ends meet.
This is how most children would become orphans in Nuevo Laredo. And there are a whole heck of a lot of them too.
(To be continued... look forward to our first interaction with the orphanage, how we got started, the colonias, and profiles of some of the girls')
Please let this blog be a source for inspiration, entertainment, and realization.
With Full Hearts,
Greg
