Best Decision I Ever Made

I volunteered with AMIGOS starting back in 2003 and 2004 and spent subsequent summers working on staff. I know it's been a few years, but my AMIGOS experiences still have profound, enriching, and lasting impacts on my life---to this day, a lot of my career choices and lifestyle are influenced by my AMIGOS summers. Specifically, I am indebted to AMIGOS for helping me build leadership/management skills, Spanish fluency, a passion for community development, and introducing me to some of the most fantastic people I have ever met. It's also cool to have program planning, management, and evaluation experience by age 20! Fellow AMIGOS, partnering agencies, and host communities are immensely inspiring, genuine, and kind; a fantastic group of people to immerse yourself in for a few months (or years! I STILL regularly talk to friends I made in Paraguay 9 years ago!) AMIGOS is undoubtedly a large undertaking; it's incredibly challenging at times (e.g. language barriers, getting sick, slow project progress) but AMIGOS has a strong network, support system, and health/safety protocol set up in country; you're never at it alone and always supported. Do it, it's awesome!