This article is from the June 1996 The Mexico File newsletter.
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A Nearby Orphanage

While exploring the streets of Alamos, I met a couple from British Columbia, Canada, who were in town for the weekend. Bob and Annette Mason are the directors of an orphanage in a coastal village some thirty miles from Ciudad Obregon. Bob left a career in real-estate appraisal and public speaking, as he and Annette undertook the task of doing for others.

The orphanage has been developed largely through assistance and financial help from fellow Canadians. CHER (Children's Health, Education and Relief) has been a major sponsor and has provided flinding for most of the buildings on site, which were built by the students from Kingsway College, Ontario. Another building was constructed by students from Carmichael Academy in Sacramento, California.

The staff at Hogar de Refugio Infantil Villa Juarez comprises Mexican nationals and a team of volunteers. The volunteers are from Canada, the United States and England. Volunteers are always needed to work for extended periods as house parents, maintenance and groundsmen, and as teachers in the elementary school.

If you would like more information or would like to make a monetary donation, please contact: CHER, Box 31012, 1300 King Street. E. Oshawa, Ontario, Canada LlH 8N9. If you are in the Alamos area and would like to visit the orphanage, follow these directions: at the Corona beer factory on the main highway just south of Obregon, turn west for about twenty-six miles. Then ask for the way to the orphanage. It is eight miles from Villa Juarez and adjacent to a Yaqui Indian village, Sube y Baja.