subject: Non Profit Organization Mexico, Orphanage In Mexico [print this page] In broken English, a 13 year boy asked if he could draw me a picture. I sat with him as he sketched a superhero figure he had seen on TV. He was amazingly talented and drew with great detail and passion. When he was finished he smiled, gave the picture to me and proudly said For you. Welcome! It was my first day volunteering at Casa Hogar Los Angelitos (CHLA) in Manzanillo, Mexico. The orphanage has over 50 children and is registered as a Mexican civil association. During the spring of 2011 I was able to spend an extended period of time at CHLA as part of a university sabbatical. I asked to volunteer at CHLA because of their outstanding reputation for working with difficult to place children in Mexico. Most of the kids come from toxic environments that include domestic violence, homelessness, physical and sexual abuse, prostitution, sexual assault, neglect and abandonment. During my professional career as a social worker I have been privileged to visit many orphanages around the world. Most of them provide for the basic survival needs of children, giving them minimal healthcare, clothing, food and shelter. The kids survive but few thrive. They often repeat the patterns and lifestyles of the poor and abusive homes they grew up in. Because of the lack of resources, few orphanages effectively address the complex needs of traumatized children. CHLA came highly recommended as a place where I could observe a success story and learn how they do it.
I started my sabbatical experience at CHLA with the following questions: Why is CHLA so effective with difficult to place children given their limited resources? Why are CHLA children more likely to remain in school and go to college? Why are their rates of teen pregnancies, drug use, gang involvement, and criminality so low? I discovered many reasons for their success while I was there. They have dedicated staff, passionate volunteers, visionary leadership and a holistic approach to child development. A surprising finding, and maybe the strongest reason for the success of CHLA, is the extensive use of expressive arts in the daily lives of the children there. The founder of CHLA, Nancy Nystrom, instinctually began using expressive arts at the orphanage when it started over 15 years ago. Children receive instruction in music and have regular access to instruments. They can train and participate in a highly skilled and prestigious troupe of dancers that perform traditional Mexican dances in local, national and international performances. The kids have access to donated art supplies and regularly draw and paint. Many of the children participate in creative writing, journaling and poetry. Expressive arts are integrated into each stage of the childs development. Through a wide variety of programs, CHLA facilitates emotional and creative expression, heals psychological wounds, and accelerates developmental growth through its use of the arts. I have never seen an orphanage embrace the arts as fervently.
Art is an important and universal facet of human expression and is as old as human civilization. The use of art for healing and mastery is at least as old as the drawings on the walls of caves (Aron-Rubin, 2005, p. 6). Expressive arts include activities such as dance, drawing, drama, creative writing, painting, poetry, music, sculpture, and photography. Professions such as art therapy, music therapy and movement therapy require graduate-level training and special professional certifications in the United States. The therapeutic use of expressive arts by non-credentialed professionals and paraprofessionals in orphanages is different in that it simply focuses on the inherent therapeutic value of children participating in creative endeavors. Both approaches encourage creative expression but the context, facilitation and purposes are very different. Most orphanages would welcome the opportunity to have expressive art therapists but the lack of funding and the availability of these specialized professionals in developing countries usually limit their use. Instead, orphanages such as CHLA use expressive arts as a way to supplement the care that children receive. Most of these activities are facilitated by volunteers, clinical staff or child care workers.
Creative arts allow children the opportunity for self-awareness and growth through self-expression. This has been shown to reduce stress and accelerate psychological and physical healing. For many children and adults imprisoned in German concentration camps in World War II, drawings and paintings were used to cope with the horrors they saw each day. Prisoners had to carefully hide their work as many were killed when their art was found (Orstein, 2006). They traded food for painting supplies, and used garbage, old boxes and newspapers to paint on. Paint was made from coal soaked in water, watered down rust and vegetable dyes. They responded to an imperative psychological demand to put on paper what they saw and what they felt (p. 395-396). Painting and poetry were a way for them to survive and cope.
Most of the children at CHLA have histories of trauma and several display symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For some, attachment bonds with primary caregivers were absent, disrupted or severed at an early age. This destroyed the trust and security essential for healthy emotional growth and relational intimacy. Early relationships provide the emotional, neurological and social foundations for our ability to love (Perry, 2009). During my stay at CHLA, I heard heartbreaking stories of domestic violence, physical torture, sexual abuse and assault, drug addiction, prostitution, extreme neglect and abandonment. Past traumatic events are difficult for children to talk about. They have not yet learned the words to describe the internal sensations, memories, images and snapshots. Painful emotions and horrific experiences are frequently repressed by the children as a basic survival mechanism (van der Kolk, 2002). Children with histories of trauma experience multiple losses and carry the toxic memories from their past. They have a higher risk of experiencing mental health problems as adults. The dissociative behavior and post traumatic stress experienced as a result of abuse and neglect negatively impacts a childs ability live a healthy, satisfying life. Alice Miller (1984) wrote
