"A Miracle in Mexico" By Alejandro Grattan

"A Miracle in Mexico"
By Alejandro Grattan
December 2002 Guadalajara-Lakeside Volume 19, Number 4

In a deeply religious country which is fraught with inexplicable phenomena, we have seen one such miracle with our own eyes. Few people at Lakeside have heard of this modern-day marvel, even fewer have visited its site, though thousands of us probably have passed only a couple of hundred yards away from it.

At first glance, it would appear to be a beautifully-laid-out junior college campus which could be anywhere in the U.S. or Canada, a campus equipped with several dormitories, a large gymnasium, a soccer field, basketball and volleyball courts, a semi-Olympic-sized swimming pool, classrooms fitted with dozens of late-model computers, and an enrollment of more than two thousand students.

There, however, all similarity ends.

For this magnificent monument to one man’s courage, vision and indomitability is known as Villa de Los Niños, located about ten miles north of Jocotepec, on the highway to Guadalajara. It is a sight that has to be seen to be believed. Here some 2000 of the poorest boys in Mexico, under the firm but loving guidance of Sister Cecilia Lee and her staff of about fifteen Sisters of Mary, are provided with food, shelter, clothing and a secondary technical, vocational training, all free of charge. Upon completion of their three-year course, the graduates then proudly take their places amongst Mexico’s fast-growing middle-class.

The educational training is intensive, with the students given only a two-week yearly vacation, and allowed but one parental visit each year. But at the end of the three years, the boys have been given, in addition to the standard education for lads in the secondary age-range, vocational training in any one or more trades such as woodworking, cooking, computers, auto mechanics, refrigeration, baking, jewelry, music, electronics, etc.

The equipment and supplies are provided free by many of Mexico’s largest corporations, and the facilities we saw are state-of-the-art. The auto repair training center was equipped by Volkswagen Mexico, which provides the students with several late-model cars, and all the necessary tools. The area is maintained by the students, and is so spotless one could eat off the floor. Best of all, as with many of the other vocations, the students are guaranteed a job upon graduation with the sponsor company.

Finally, however, it is not the adult instructors or the corporations who have made this place what it is—but rather the Sisters of Mary and the students themselves. It was inspiring to witness the sense of quiet joy and deep dedication which seemed to permeate the very halls of this marvelous institution of learning. The boys we saw (and we saw hundreds of them!) seemed happy, focused and keenly aware that they had been given one of the greatest strokes of luck they are likely to ever encounter. All of them come from extremely poor backgrounds, and proudly wear the neat, clean regulation clothing they were issued upon admittance.

The day Cuca Tingen and I visited, our guide was Sister Zeny, a diminutive nun from the Philippines whose broad smile and cheerful cooperation made our short stay a delight. Of the fifteen nuns, most are from the Philippines and South Korea, with a sprinkling of Mexican sisters mixed in for local flavor.

The man responsible for this miracle in Mexico is the late Msgr. Aloysius Schwartz. Creating just one such monument to the power of courage, vision and love would be enough for any man—but over the course of his life, he founded other such facilities in Korea and the Philippines, as well as hospitals, orphanages and homes for the homeless. Little wonder that he was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Equally amazing was that he did much of this while confined to a wheelchair. In 1989, Msgr. Schwartz was stricken with the malady known today as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” an affliction which finally took his life in 1992. Now the good Sisters of Mary carry on with his magnificent dream, doing it mainly through contributions. Anyone wishing to know more about this great effort and who has the desire to take part in this charitable work may call Sister Cecilia Lee at (37472) 5-0207.

As we drove away, I glanced back at the hundreds of young boys and the beautiful grounds and buildings, and a line from a now-forgotten play came to mind, in which one of the characters—reflecting on how every now and then, good people and noble ideas can create miracles—says “Sometimes there’s God.”