Site Information

In 1991, Project Mexico moved to a partnership with Los Niños, the bi-national non-profit organization. Since then Los Niños has hosted our educational immersion trip in Tijuana. We fly into San Diego, are picked up by the delegation leaders and transported to Tecate, which is some 45 minutes outside of Tijuana when we first arrive in Mexico.

We arrive at the boys orphanage called Rancho Nazareth. It is a great way to ease into the Mexico reality, spending some relaxing time with the boys who are still on Christmas holidays and sharing Christmas toys we have brought to them, paid for from the auction proceeds. After spending the evening and the night at Rancho Nazareth, the delegation leaders pick us up and we drive to Tijuana to spend the rest of our time there.

As an organization, Los Niños truly has become a co-educator of our group each year, and its staff dear friends of Loyola institutionally and all of the groups participants. From its website, you can see that this is a program that believes in our values of working with and not for others. The dynamic of the program is never one-way, it involves Loyola giving to the communities in Mexico, but also receiving much in the form of hospitality, wisdom and hope.

Project Mexico, at its best combines direct personal experience, education and personal reflection. We respect all people as potential teachers, recognize the complexity of the border issues, believe that ones’ critical thinking is enriched by personal contact and encourage each participant to act on what he or she has learned.

Los Niños houses our whole group together in a rented location. Their hope is to some day own their own house to receive delegations. From there we go out into the city to work with organized communities offering our physical labor to help improve their schools. The educational activities also take place throughout Tijuana as we come to learn about the many complex border issues.

See our photos to get a better sense of the geography and work.

< Project Mexico | Program Description | Program Detail & Schedule | Application Process and Forms | Student Leadership Opportunities | Reflection about the Program | Program Scrapbook >