DONORS FEELING HELPED KIDS' SMILES REWARD GROUP FOR WORK, GIFTS, MEDICAL CARE.

Byline: Judy O'Rourke Staff Writer

GOMEZ MORIN, Mexico - Sergio will never be a headliner at the Teatro Metropolitan in Mexico City, but the Sunday before Christmas he held an invitation-only audience in thrall with a keyboard solo.

His improvised performance was unscheduled. It never would have occurred at all if Kay Dell, the Santa Clarita woman poised at the keyboard, had shooed away the energetic boy who climbed onto her lap and found his inner musician.

The 7-year-old has Down syndrome and lives in an orphanage in the dirt-poor Mexican town of Maneadero, south of Ensenada, that is home to severely disabled children and young adults - some of them true orphans, some left by parents who could not care for them. Four sisters with cerebral palsy came from the same family of nine kids.

``The love and joy that the little children had for us was overwhelming because we went to give to them,'' said Dell, a public school music teacher for 23 years. ``But through the love of God, these special children, who are less than perfect, gave more than we could have ever given to them.''

Along with Santa Clarita residents laden with gifts and holiday spirit, the keyboard found its way to that spot in Maneadero and to the impoverished town of Gomez Morin the day before.

About two dozen mostly middle-age travelers from Friends in Faith, a Bible study group from Grace Baptist Church in Saugus, set out on a two-day pilgrimage to a couple of towns in Baja California to deliver gifts, perform Christmas programs and do light construction. Members of a Spanish ministry within the church joined them.

``I just get the joy out of helping as I can,'' said attorney Steve MacPhail, who delivered sermons at the Christmas events.

``The first time I went down, even before I got down there, it was put in my heart we're going to help all these people. Yet I found (those) who felt the most blessed (were) me and people in our group. Those who gave got more out of it.''

Anchored in wheelchairs or cradled in the arms of the visitors, many youngsters from the Gabriel House orphanage joined in the festivities.

During a rollicking Spanish-language singalong that included ``Jingle Bells,'' Cheli, 21, gestured with all her might. She managed to smile. Muscular dystrophy has atrophied her body, which was draped horizontally in a wheelchair, her hands coiled tightly.

Most of the babies, children and young adults who live in the orphanage have cerebral palsy, autism or mental retardation, or they are HIV-positive.

Private donations fund the nonprofit facility's operations.

``I feel like we have to share what we have with people who are less fortunate, ... and I think it's based on love of God,'' said Esther Kim, who traveled with her husband, Dr. Peter Kim, a Valencia pediatrician. ``It overflows to people who are less fortunate.''

Ricardo Cantero - whose family's sojourns to Mexico in the past seven years paved the way for the church group - batted around a soccer ball with 20-year-old Victor, who sat in a wheelchair. Victor delighted in faking out his opponent and tossing the ball well out of Cantero's reach.

Dr. Kim sought out Jose, 12, whose club feet left him scooting along on the ground, propelled by his hands. Kim will try to arrange corrective surgery for Jose in California. There will be obstacles. The boy's last name is not known, and he has no identification papers, Kim said.

``I see no difference when I see one child from another child ... with the heart, mind and spirit ..., just a different look,'' Kim said. ``I see each as an individual, a perfect individual in God's eyes.''

While most of the disabled children will never leave the impoverished Mexican village, one boy has prospects. Seven-month-old Panchito, who was dropped off at the orphanage when he was just one month old, is being adopted by the Cantero family. He could be living in Valencia in six months.

``I feel kind of sorry for him,'' said Ricky Cantero, 17, who took turns with his parents and siblings cradling the baby. ``He stays in kind of a cage. I want another brother. I can take care of my sister, brother and him. I'm just happy he's coming.'' Maria Cantero's calm composure broke as she labeled clothes and gifts the family members had brought for the baby they hope to make one of them. A pair of sunglasses hid her tears.

The previous day, the group had rolled into Gomez Morin, a town adjacent to an old trash dump, which closed several months ago, on the eastern outskirts of Ensenada. The dump was a gold mine for local residents, who earned as much as $10 a day wading through the trash and fishing out clothes and bottles that they cleaned up to sell.

``When they closed the dump, a lot of families lost the ability to make a living,'' said Art Garcia, one of the visitors.

Most houses in the town are cobbled together from scraps. Electricity and running water are luxuries few can afford. There is no place to escape the 30-degree winter cold. Any heat is from blankets. Church members, who have both immediate and long-term goals for helping the townspeople, had brought vegetable seeds and fertilizer during an earlier trip and taught people how to plant gardens.

``We're trying to help people who are trying to stay in their country and obey the law,'' said Rick Jamieson, a retired Los Angeles police officer who was on the construction team. ``They want to stay in their community.''

That Saturday morning, the visitors split into teams. They fed the townspeople, performed a Christmas program and handed out gifts to more than 120 children at the Nazarene church. Then they built a patio cover for a family's bare-bones home.

Dr. Kim examined about 60 women and children at a makeshift clinic inside the church. There were many with colds, coughs, sore throats or the flu, but the doctor found they were generally in good health. Free children's vaccinations are available, but unless people have life-threatening problems, they generally self-treat illnesses, he said.

``They depend on us,'' the doctor said. ``We'll be back.''

Ana Marmol and her 12-year-old daughter, Aubrey, a seventh-grader at Rio Norte Junior High School in Valencia, recorded the patients' medical histories. Aubrey handed out cute stickers. Periodically, Ana mingled with the crowd, approaching children who shunned the doctor.

``They say, 'I don't want to do this; I'm really shy,''' Marmol said. She offered gentle encouragement and changed some minds.

Jose Almazan, 16, walks two miles a day to and from home, school and work. He wields tweezers and snippers for a garment maker to earn money to buy his own clothing.

``I pull threads, and if they are loose, I cut them,'' he said in Spanish. Jose said he earns $1 an hour. He can barely move his left foot, crippled by an infection that hinders his gait. Kim gave him some medicine and will consult with a Santa Clarita podiatrist on his behalf.

A curly haired Valencia High School 11th-grader, Joshua Marmol, also 16, skillfully strummed a guitar during the holiday service, accompanying a chorus of local kids.

After lunch, church members handed out gift bags and bicycles. The process took hours, as each child's name was recited to thunderous applause. The doctor's wife surmised some of the bikes will be shared.

``They will be the only transportation for the whole family,'' Esther Kim said.

The visitors realize some of their popularity may flow from their largess, which totaled about $8,000 in cash and gifts.

``Probably a good quarter or 50 percent (of the people) are here to get something,'' Garcia said. ``We have to accept that. We plant the seed that we're here (for) more than to offer (them) stuff.''

Judy O'Rourke, [phone]

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

6 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Mothers and children wait their turn to be examined by Dr. Peter Kim of Valencia in the Mexican town of Gomez Morin. Town residents used to make their living by cleaning and selling usable goods from an old trash dump that recently closed.

(2 -- color) Too excited to sleep, kids try out bicycles handed out in the impoverished Mexican town of Gomez Morin by a Bible study group from Grace Baptist Church in Saugus. For the kids' families, the bikes may be the only wheeled transportation.

(3 -- color) Residents of the Mexican town of Gomez Morin gather for food, a Christmas program and an array of gifts, including bicycles, from visiting members of Friends in Faith, a Bible study group at Grace Baptist Church in Saugus.

(4 -- color) People in the impoverished Mexican town of Gomez Morin line up at the Nazarene church for hot meals provided by members of Grace Baptist Church in Santa Clarita, who also handed out gifts to more than 120 children.

(5 -- color) With a makeshift goal made from discarded pieces of fence, children in Gomez Morin, Mexico, play soccer on a day of food, fun and gifts provided by visiting Americans from Santa Clarita.

(6 -- color) Members of Friends in Faith from Saugus hold hands with each other and local children while praying before beginning their work projects in Gomez Morin, Mexico.

David Crane/Staff Photographer