A Refuge for Orphaned, Abandoned and Abused Children in Tapachula, Mexico

In the Beginning
Six years ago, a middle-aged couple from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland travelled to Tapachula, Mexico, to volunteer in an orphanage for a year. Pam and Alan Skuse had already raised a family of six and thought it would be an incredible experience to assist in the care of abandoned and abused children in a foreign country.

Six months into their stay, the organisation operating the orphanage decided to close it down. Pam and Alan were devastated at the thought of the six children in their care being cast back into the street. With no resources and very limited experience, they decided to establish a refuge of their own, which they called Mission Mexico.

Today
Today, aged 53 and 56, Pam and Alan care for 31 children on a fulltime basis and also regularly take in additional children temporarily. The refuge is currently housed in a run-down, government-owned building with no running water and no yard for the children to play in. A concrete structure with a tarred roof, the temperature inside the refuge regularly rises to 40 deg during the day.

Pam and Alan sleep in a section of what was the foyer of the building. It is a tiny space with only curtains petitioning it off from the rest of house. The space is so small that Pam and Alan can’t walk around their bed; they have to climb over the end of it to get in.

The refuge has no oven; only a primitive gas cook top and a microwave. Water supply is notoriously unreliable and, with no space on the property to place a water tank, running water is a luxury they can’t afford. The carers and children regularly bathe with buckets and, every time a toilet needs to be flushed, someone must go and collect a bucket of water from outside (if there’s any water there at all).

The children are aged between 2 and 16 and sleep in bunk beds in separate boys and girls dorms which double as closets, storage areas for their bicycles and play rooms. With a number of the children in their early to mid-teens, it can be a struggle at times to not have anywhere they can go in the house that is separate from the younger chidren and toddlers.

Up ahead
Pam and Alan currently have the opportunity to purchase a large block of land in the centre of Tapachula. They plan to renovate an existing building on the site which will become the new refuge. The new site will have a huge yard for the children to play in, there will be space to install rainwater tanks to provide a more reliable water supply and the design will allow separate areas for the children to rest, eat, play and study. Pam and Alan will have a separate bedroom (with walls and a door!), their own bathroom and office area.

The Cost
To purchase the land outright and complete the renovation, Mission Mexico requires $150,000 AUD. Mission Mexico is partnering with an AUSAID approved not-for-profit organisation here in Australia called the Global Development Group, GDG, which is able to provide tax-deductability for all donations of $2 or more towards the project.

Further information about the GDG can be obtained from their website, www.globaldevelopment.org.au

Tanya’s  Involvement

My husband, Dale, and I have had a dream for several years to record a project and give all of our proceeds to a children’s charity overseas. We had been praying for several months about which project to support. As World Vision sponsors for 13 years, we were originally looking at WV projects in Africa. God had other plans though. Quite providentially, I was flicking through the Australian Women’s Weekly in October, 2006, and came across an article about Mission Mexico (attached). My heart connected with the story straight away and we knew we had found what we were looking for. I had the privilege (and it was an absolute privilege) to spend a day with Pam in Noosa during a fleeting trip she made back to Australia in November, 2006.

There were plenty of tears that day as she shared stories of the children in her care – the heart-wrenching struggles and the monumental achievements. I found Pam to be an incredibly humble and gentle person, full of grace and love. But I also saw that there is a fierce determination within her to give the Mexican children every opportunity to break free from the cycle of poverty and helplessness that they were living in prior to their arrival at the refuge.

These children and Pam and Alan have become like family to us now. This has become a very personal quest for us to do what we can to see their living conditions improved. And we hope that what we’re doing will encourage other people to think about how they can use their talents and gifts to serve the poor throughout the world. In addition to donating all of our proceeds from the sale of Braver Than You Think You Are, Dale and I will also be speaking and performing in churches to promote Mision Mexico and hosting and/or appearing at a number of fundraising events this year.

For more information,
please visit: www.lovelifehope.com