Los Niños Del Capitan - Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

Los Niños del Capitan is a daycare for children ages 18 months through five-years-old. It was created for single parents in extreme poverty as a safe place to be taken care of while parents work. It was established in 2001 by “abuelita” or grandmother, Herminia Losada, and is a model Mexican nonprofit currently directed by Josefina Martinez Solis. Parent(s) are charged $600 pesos a month (approximately $50 U.S. dollars). The actual cost of caring for each child is $2000 pesos a month ($166 U.S.). If parents cannot pay the fee, they are asked to pay what they can and it is agreed that once the child goes to public school, the parent will continue to pay what is owed to the daycare. The daycare is extremely flexible with the payment, as they believe it is most important for the child to be taken care of, fed nutritious meals, clothed and have shoes to wear. They also make efforts to take care of the children’s medical, psychological and dental needs.  All services provided are donated by medical professionals.  


A year ago this daycare accommodated 150 children daily, but during the past six months the number of children had to be reduced to 120 because of lack of funding from charity contributions.  Los Niños del Capitan is a nonprofit organization funded only through donations, fundraising, and parent contributions.

The area of Tierra y Libertad where the children live,

about 15 minutes from downtown Cabo San Lucas.

Ideally there are 23-28 employees to take care of the children but staff has been cut to 18, some of which are volunteers. One woman does all the cooking, kitchen cleanup, and serving two meals a day (breakfast and lunch) with a snack in the afternoon.

I was asked to visit around 3:30 p.m., the time the children begin to be picked up. The daycare opens at 6 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. Many children are there for the entire 12 hours. On a tour of their facility there was one “teacher/caretaker” in each of the four rooms (18 months-2 years, age 3, age 4 and 5). 

The daycare is located on the north section of Cabo San Lucas. High cement walls and razor wire surrounds the daycare with metal barred security gates. An area just inside the first gate is where the parent leaves the child and picks them up. Children are ushered through another locked security gate to meet their parent when picked up. The preschool is very clean and sparse. The 

rooms where the children stay are small, just big enough for their small tables and chairs and basic supplies (sleeping mats, art supplies, etc.).

Their playground consists of an area covered with sand with an old dilapidated swing set contraption shaded by a corrugated metal roof.  The director explained how the repairman is constantly attempting to repair the structure.  Of the four swings, only two were usable and the rest of the structure was rickety. Approximately one-fourth of the other part of sand playground area was covered with a huge mound of garbage bags full of recyclable materials (plastic, cans, etc.) and about 35 sinks. 

The recycling people come once a month to pick it up. The director was proud of the fact that last month they made $20 U.S. selling the recyclables. The sinks are a donation from a hotel renovation. They are attempting to sell the sinks for revenue but there is never enough time or resources to make that happen. The people who live in the area would either not consider buying a used sink or they live in the barrios (impoverished area close by where homes are made of tin and cardboard) and they can’t afford a sink or running water.

The other part of the playground courtyard has a cement floor and one small playhouse in the middle, which houses about eight broken down plastic trikes and riding toys.

 The daycare has no Facebook page or official website, other than a simple page that another organization has set up for them.  I talked to Josefina about creating a Facebook page, as it would be an easy and cost effective way to keep people updated as to what their needs are and what type of projects need to get done.  She was delighted to know that someone might be able to do that but was hesitant about how to maintain it.  I hope to get that set up and show her how to work with it the next time I visit Cabo San Lucas.  

Supplies

baby wipes

30 mats for the floor that they take naps on
Exterior and interior paint (white and chocolate brown most important, but any other color is fine) 

Copier paper
Art supplies
Glue
Tape
Small backpacks

Equipment

Playground equipment (current equipment is not very sturdy, two out of four swings don’t work)
Tike bikes and riding toys
Playground balls

Food items
Any kind of basic food (flour, oil, vegetables, beans, meat, fruit, yogurt, milk, breakfast cereals, margarine, bread, cheese, crackers, etc.)

Other needs

Facebook page
Pediatrician services
Counseling services
Dental services
People to repair and paint
People to help sponsor/provide scholarship for a child to help pay the actual cost of operating the daycare

Donations 

If anyone is traveling to Cabo San Lucas, there is a Costco, Sam's Club and Walmart located close by.  It is easy to pick up a few cases of supplies and drop them off at the daycare.  

Contact information:

Josefina Martinez Solis, Director

Mañana 89, Lote 05,

Col. Mesa Colorada, 2da. Etapa

Cabo San Lucas, B.C.S.

Phone:  173-38-07

Email:  losninosdelcapitan@hotmail.com

If you would like to make monetary donations, contact me directly and I will give you the directions of how to do that.  I hope that on your next visit to Cabo San Lucas you will take the time to help provide some of the above supplies to support a wonderful small organization who is making sure the children are not going hungry and are cared for.  

DreamMissions - We can all help make a difference in a child's life