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The values

In the N.P.H. Homes, the pequeños receive medical assistance and a healthy nutrition and the best education according to their capabilities and aspirations. However, most importantly, they receive unconditional love, individual attentions and safety, as well as a solid work ethic, the value of sharing and responsibility so they can become serene, independent and responsible adult “Because happiness is the perfect equilibrium between a sense of safety, sharing, work and responsibility, it’s an equilibrium that can be reached by a person who’s treated as a human being with all his/her defects, as well as his/her human dignity…” (Father W. Wasson, N.P.H. founder)

The NPH values are universal and can be applied to any family in the world. They are a source of learning and personal growing for everybody.

LOVE: hospitality, listening, availability, empathy, intuition, comprehension, support, handling, encouraging.

WORK: everyone has to collaborate so that their House (NPH family) can function at its best. All the children have to perform some little tasks daily. It is often explained to children that working is not pleasant but essential. Furthermore, by working, children learn to respect their surroundings (i.e. they are more careful not to get things dirty) thus becoming more responsible.

RESPONSIBILITY: providing every kid with the possibility to decide their actions, based on some inputs by adults that are transmitted to the children through direct confrontation. This way, the children will become much more responsible and will behave with a growing consciousness, as a result of free choice, rather than of a command.  

SHARING: Against selfishness and helping develop a sense of charity, sympathy and reciprocity. Sharing is not imposed to children as, even in this instance, they are free to choose, but it is always encouraged through example. Sharing means donating one’s own time, advice, knowledge, clothes, money, objects to the ones who really are in need.  

SAFETY: NPH works like a “mother”: kids feel like they are living in the right environment for them, one that makes them feel a part of a big family. The children feel safe in NPH because they know they won’t have to leave. From the moment they step in the House, they belong to the NPH family. This way it is possible to give a normal life to children who have lived some traumatic events, to help them rebuild their lives by transmitting them trust in themselves and in others.  

Because of its extraordinary results, this “educational method” based on love has been theorized by psychologist and sociologist Erich Fromm in one of his essays and then reedited in the book “Facciamo felici i nostri figli. Storia vera di un padre e dei suoi ventimila bambini” – Ed. Franco Angeli