by Anita McDermott and Alyson Vinish—

Thirty years ago, a small group of determined people climbed into a VW Beetle and began traveling from village to village around Santa María Huatulco. They were looking for families whose children had physical or developmental disabilities — children who, at the time, had few local resources available to them.

Flor Angélica Castillo de la Cruz, María Estela Venegas Aguirre, Dominga Sánchez Aguirre, Luz María Blanquet and Leonardo Alcántara García recognized the need and decided to do something about it. Their work would eventually become Un Nuevo Amanecer en Pro del Discapacitado (UNA), which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2025.

In those early days, the group conducted needs assessments throughout the municipality of Santa María Huatulco. Traveling to remote communities, they met with families to better understand their circumstances and to talk about the importance of care and support for children with physical and developmental disabilities.

UNA’s initial funding came from the Ba’asolay Foundation. Piña Palmera, another organization working with people with disabilities on the Oaxacan coast, provided medical assistance, wheelchairs and hearing aids in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Huatulco.
Over the years, UNA developed partnerships with government institutions, international organizations and local supporters. Volunteers also became an important part of the organization’s growth.

For 27 years, UNA operated from space generously provided inside Ferrealianza Hardware store. Then, in 2023, it moved into its new Child Care Centre in Huatulco — a considerable change from those early journeys in a VW Beetle.

Today, UNA serves approximately 180 children each year from 28 communities. Families come not only from Huatulco, but also from neighboring municipalities and communities including San Miguel del Puerto, Pochutla, Río Grande and San Pedro Huamelula.

The children range in age from infants to teenagers and receive services according to their individual needs. These include speech therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, sign-language instruction and educational support, provided by qualified full-time therapists.
But the work is also about what comes next.

UNA’s goal is to help children participate as fully as possible in their families, schools and communities and, as they grow older, in the workplace. For young people who may not continue with formal education, workshops teach practical skills such as cooking and independent living, helping prepare them for adulthood.

Thirty years after a handful of people began traveling through the villages surrounding Huatulco, the need for that work remains. According to UNA, approximately 70 percent of the families it serves live in poverty. The organization relies heavily on donors, volunteers and community support to cover the cost of therapies, programs and staff.

What has changed is the scale of what those first volunteers began. The VW Beetle has given way to a dedicated center, and a small group trying to identify children who needed help has become an organization serving families across the region.

But the idea at its heart remains much the same: caring for a child is rarely the work of one person alone.

How You Can Help

Through UNA’s Sponsor a Child (Apadrina a un Niño) program, donors can help cover a child’s therapeutic treatment. A donation of $15,000 pesos provides therapeutic support for one year, with the program focusing particularly on children who require multiple therapies and whose families need financial assistance.

Canadian donors can make tax-deductible contributions through Amistad Canada. When donating, select the Un Nuevo Amanecer project and indicate whether your contribution is to sponsor a child or support UNA’s general operating costs.
http://www.amistadcanada.org

UNA also raises funds through annual community events, including Blues at Bocana, with food, drinks and live entertainment, and Vamos Huatulco, a 3 km walk and 5 km run.

For more information about UNA, including stories from some of the families it has supported, visit:
http://www.unnuevoamanecerhux.com

Alyson Vinish and Anita McDermott serve as project liaisons between UNA and Amistad Canada.