‘We raised 250 kids in 15 years’

Alan and Pam left their own children in Australia to adopt scores of Mexican boys and girls. Source: Supplied

MEET Alan and Pam, the married couple from Queensland who travelled to Mexico to adopt 250 children. Well, it's not quite that simple.

The pair, both in their 60s, began their adventure after volunteering in 2000 at an orphanage for children who were physically and sexually abused, orphaned, living on the streets or drug addicts.

When the business funding the orphanage pulled out, the couple sold everything but their Sunshine Coast apartment and took ownership of Misión Mexico and the precious little lives of dozens of children.

The faces that love could not leave behind. Picture: Misión Mexico. Source: Supplied

"The sacrifices were endless but the hardest part was the separation from our children and grandchildren," Pam told news.com.au.

She said everything changed when they were presented with a life-changing question: stay or go?

"After six months volunteering in Mexico, teaching the kids to read, caring for them and providing a home for them, the organisation funding the refuge closed, therefore cutting any financial support," she said.

Pam and Alan Skuse have raised and rehomed more than 250 orphans. Picture: Misión Mexico. Source: Supplied

"We were faced with an awful situation; to leave, knowing that the kids will go back to their lives on the streets or abuse, or to make huge sacrifices of our own, with only our own personal resources to support us and give those kids another chance. We agreed their need for a home and care was greater than ours so, as challenging as it was, we stayed."

Their youngest daughter Hannah, 15 at the time, moved to Mexico with her parents but returned home soon after.

From 2000-2015, the pair raised and housed more than 250 children in lieu of being around their own. In typical Sunshine Coast fashion, they also taught them to surf.

Teaching orphaned children to surf gave them a purpose. Picture: Misión Mexico Source: Supplied

"It evolved as a result of the love of surfing from the children (and) we recognise that surfing had become a passion of theirs and that it had an enormous positive impact on their lives," Alan said. Orphan Jose said surfing changed his life.

"When I surf, I don't have to think about anything except the waves. Not my past, not drugs, not anything. There is nothing like it," he said.

Tapachula orphan Jose rides a wave near the orphanage. Picture: Noosa Journal. Source: Supplied

Alan, a former mechanic and Pam, a former volunteer lifesaver, spend 11 months each year at the orphanage, which is located in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico's main border city with Guatemala.

They visit Australia with the money they receive from renting out their Sunshine Coast apartment, but they always return to Mexico.

"The is an incredible sense of satisfaction and a feeling of achievement as we see these children grow and change," Alan said.

A volunteer looks on from the black sand beach near Misión México. Source: Supplied

"We are making a difference in their lives and this gives us strength to continue."

Those young lives might otherwise be led astray, like hundreds of others from Tapachula. More than 50 per cent of women in the area are believed to be engaged in prostitution and most of them are between 15-19 years of age. Human trafficking is also a problem in Tapachula.

Pam said most orphans come from backgrounds of poverty and neglect.

"Some children were orphaned, others were abandoned and many were physically or sexually abused. There have been some young children who were addicted or dealing in drugs while living on the streets."

Pam and Alan Skuse. Source: Supplied

A pair of young lives saved. Source: Supplied

She said turning around young, troubled lives makes it all worthwhile.

"When you see a child who was once living in a stick hut with a dirt floor, dance with grace and beauty, or a child whose life would've been subject to beatings or sexual abuse sing like an angel, these are the most overwhelming, rewarding experiences one could ever hope for."

Misión México survives through the support of donations.

Mision Mexico provides a loving, secure family home for children of all ages who have been abused, abandoned, neglected and orphaned. Courtesy: Mision Mexico

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