posada pińatas

Once again the Friends of Nueva Vida, the International Women's Club, and the Merida Men's Club have come together to help make the holidays a little brighter for the families of the girls at Estancia Nueva Vida (NV).

For the past 2 months I have been collecting things, and cash, and then shopping for fun stuff to use to fill the pińatas for the families of the girls attending NV.  Oh, and of course for the candy, because, what fun would a pińata be without candy, lots n lots of candy.

Last week Deyanira and I met at Nueva Vida to fill the pińatas that would be distributed to the 24 families that represent the 28 girls, yes, 28 girls being helped at Nueva Vida.

and here you'll see some of the girls receiving the pińatas that they will take home and share with their families for the holidays.

Thank you so much to each of you who contributed goods or cash to fill the pińatas.  There were so many cool things added to the candy, things for girls, boys, moms, and dads.

the girls learn to Build their Dreams, and to be better guardians to animals!

The girls of Estancia Nueva Vida recently attended a two part workshop;  Building Your Dreams, led by Brian and Deyanira Mendoza Dominguez, and The Life of a Pet, led by animal trainer Jeff Damon.


Brian and Deya are helping the girls to realize the possibilities. Building your Dreams is about realizing your potential, as far or as close to home as you wish!

here you can see how they are learning to plan, short term, medium term, and long term.

 putting together their plans for their futures!

Jeff's calm caring compassion will go a long way to helping these girls understand the value of the lives of animals. He is helping them, and us, to become more educated about animal care and training.


here are some fotos of Jeff talking about and interacting with dogs.

and at the end of the day!

nothing but smiles!

take a break

In the midst of their “extra” activities the girls continue to work hard to get their homework done and also find some time just to play.

Oh the Drama

So many fun things coming in to these girls lives 

The girls had theater and English activities facilitated by visiting groups from Ohio State and Gannon University.

it's a good thing, volunteers and crafts

There are many people that make Nueva Vida a success. Not the least of whom are the Staff.  

These ladies truly love these girls.

But of equal importance are the volunteers who dedicate their time, energy, and hearts to helping improve these girls lives and future outlooks.

Much to the delight of the girls, volunteers Diane, Judith, Pauline,  and a visiting group from Franklin, PA, provided many opportunities to do creative crafts during the last six months.

Valentine’s Day was celebrated with a visiting group from Franklin, PA.

personal development skills

Beginning in January, each week one of the girls gives a presentation about her life to the other girls and the staff in order to build community as well as presentation and listening skills.

To add to the girls education, and thinking outside the box

we've begun discussions, the first centered around the question “Should there be zoos?” and took a field trip to the Centenario.  We plan to visit Animaya before the end of the school year.

the girls find their Passion

During the month of January Estancia Nueva Vida received Passion Foundation – Global Sorority whose purpose is to delivering leadership training.  This connection occurred from the interest that Brian Archimedes MD and his wife Deyanira Mendoza MD (both Canadian volunteers at Estancia Nueva Vida) have in connecting people or organizations that can work together for a common goal.

What is Passion Foundation?  Passion Foundation is a Canadian non-profit organization led by Loretta Cella (founder) who together with Tia Kelly (co-founder) have created an initiative called GLOBAL SORORITY which has the great vision of providing girls around the globe with leadership skills and connecting those girls to share experiences.   http://www.passionfoundation.org/,http://www.globalsorority.com/

While the Canadian non-profit organization members were here they delivered together with Patricia (Nueva Vida Director) and Deyanira MD (Nueva Vida Volunteer, and now representative of Passion Foundation – Global Sorority in Mexico) fourteen hours of leadership training concluding with the development of four different projects that the girls will carry out over the course of 3 months.

The development of these projects has several objectives, the main one to help these girls learn skills that they can use for the rest of their lives: anything from presentation skills to project management skills and of course to think ahead to the future. One purpose also is to raise funds so they can donate them for a good cause and in this way connect with their community. In general all the projects will conclude in the project event at the beginning of July where the girls will: sell used clothes and provide basic beauty services, they will also sell piggy banks that they have made, as well as collect some piggy banks that will be placed in some locations for people to donate money and provide the community with materials and guidance, they will also show how to make crafts with recyclable materials in exchange of a donation.

Here are some fotos of the girls in their training

Deyanira and Patricia helped facilitate and translate the training and  continue working with these girls to sustain the development of leadership, teamwork, and project management skills.

The wrap up for the leadership training was a lovely lunch provided by 100% Natural restaurant