Program Reviews

I did Amigos as a high school student in 1986 & 1987. My teenage son went to Chimborazo in the summer of 2018. I can speak to being both a volunteer as well as a parent, and I can confidently say that Amigos is a life changing experience. I like to say that my son came home with his eyes wide open. He was fully immersed in a new culture. He lead town hall meetings (in Spanish!!). He formed relationships with his host family that he continues to maintain. He became more independent, more confident and more engaged. No cell phones for 7-weeks, he came home well read and well rested. His love of reading returned as he
swapped novels with other volunteers over the summer.

I am so excited to have this shared experience with my son. There is nothing else like it!

this trip was the best decision I've ever made! i had an awesome support network in Panama of supervisors and staff. we had check ins with our supervisor all the time where they would ask us about how everything had been going and they always made it easy to talk/go to them. the first week was filled with briefing, which i had not expected but was very grateful for because of how safe it made me feel. going into our homestay i was nervous because i pretty much had no language experience. i immediately knew that i was going to love my host mom! she was cute and little always filling me to the brim with food. i also loved my host dad who had the sweetest laugh and was always curious about life in america. i adored my host sister who played endless games of cards with me. i will never forget walking to the local tienda with her and getting dulces for the entire family every night. i also adored the local schoolchildren who always tried to give me little toys and who always wanted to play with the "Gringas". getting on that plane was the hardest thing in the world for me because i had felt that i had made a second family and really belonged in that town of two hundred people.

discover amigos was the best summer of my life. as soon as i met everyone in the houston airport i knew i would love the program. the supervisors were the B E S T and i think everyone on the trip would say that we call them friends not supervisors yet they do their job well and make sure everything is safe and well. the host family i stayed with was amazing and made me feel so welcome even though i didnt speak the same language as them. they cooked full meals, made sure i was off to school on time in the morning, and we loved sitting down to a good card game in the evenings. my favorite part about the homestays was just sitting with my host family at night, bouncing my host baby on my lap while my host aunt would braid my hair and my host uncle would tell me about his trips to china. going to the school was a blast and i think i can say for us and the school kids that we all had so much fun playing and laughing together. i now can say i have 20 new best friends from this trip some of whom i plan to go visit even if that means having to fly to go see them. best trip of a lifetime and im already looking into next year and planning all my next trips with amigos.

Amigos insured that I grew up the day I left Mexico. My host family and community were the most influential people of my life. To this day everything I do I think of them, how I can make them proud, my privilege and when can I return. Our project although challenging was the point of growth for me. I can not explain further the depth and impact this experience has had on me but I do recommend it to those who are willing to respect the amazing culture that exist in Yucatan. We have to preserve and conserve it.

I was a volunteer on the 2016 Chimborazo, Ecuador project. It was the first year that AMIGOS had operated in Chimborazo, and regardless, I had an amazing experience.
Throughout the entire summer, I felt safe and supported by my project staff, who worked hard to ensure that us participants had positive experiences. Not only did I have a supportive team of project staff, but I also had an incredible host family who was willing to help me through any issues that may arise. I lived with them in a small community at about 12,500 feet, where a typical day consisted of working with my host family in the garden, playing games with local children and youth, walking to the local store or $0.10 ice cream, and working to plan a new community store.
Since my participation, I have become active with AMIGOS as a trainer because my experience was that impactful. I developed leadership skills, gained independence, improved my Spanish, and learned about myself. I would highly recommend an AMIGOS program to any high school or college student eager to learn more about a new culture and get out of their comfort zones. It is important to note, however, that AMIGOS is probably not a good match for young people looking for a touristy trip, as AMIGOS focuses much more on cultural immersion than anything else.

I was a participant in Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2014. I knew very little Spanish when I arrived. Despite my language shortcomings, my host family remained patient with me. We learned to communicate through playing cards, doing magic tricks, and other fun bonding experiences. My Spanish improved over time and by the end of the summer I could even make jokes in Spanish!
I have worked with several volunteer abroad organizations, and Amigos by far has the best safety element. There is an on-call emergency response team available 24/7 a supervisor that spends 24 hours in your community every week and escorts you to the clinic when you're sick, a list of behavioral standards to abide by with your safety in mind (no riding motorcycles, or other dangerous behavior).
One thing that really makes Amigos stand out compared to other volunteer organizations, is the rigorous training that participants go through before departing for their summer. You build skills such as how to facilitate activities and how to hold community meetings, so that you can be useful in supporting the community once you arrive.
Amigos was my first time using my Spanish and my first time out of the U.S. Needless to say, I was scared. However, by being bold and getting out of my comfort zone, I realized that I am capable of doing anything. By intentionally pushing my personal boundaries to pursue relationships with people, I realized that they are neither as scary nor judgmental as I had worried. While they did chuckle at my alien accent, I learned to accept their reactions as opportunities to laugh at myself and as indicators for where I can work on self-improvement. In addition, I became more welcoming of others who differ from me. After being trusted to lead a development project in a foreign country in a foreign tongue, I really do feel like I can do anything.
In addition, the leadership ladder at Amigos is amazing. In 3 years, I have climbed the leadership ladder from participant, to volunteer trainer, to full-time trainer, and now this summer I will be a project supervisor. I look forward to continuing to climb this ladder, whether that be in the form of project director, on-call staff, or any of the other numerous opportunities Amigos provides for young people.

As a participant with Amigos, I spent two months in Paraguari, Paraguay. I a rural community of a little over 1,000 people, I learned about myself and the world outside of my normal. Along with a partner, I supported the community in constructing sixteen latrines and hosted camps about hygiene and environmental health with the school children. I lived with a family that taught me the true meaning of hospitality and grew in my ability to lean in to the moments of discomfort that come with learning a new culture. I gained confidence in my Spanish that has overflowed into my ability to grasp other languages as well. The immense stress on sustainability and community oriented growth has stuck with me to this day. In all honesty, I believe it has played a major role in my collegiate career and life goals. In a globalizing world, I cannot imagine a greater skill than cultural competence. And that is only one of which you will grow in doing this program!

My summer in the Dominican Republic was one of the most fruitful, inspiring, and rewarding experiences I have had in my life thus far. Amigos de las Americas is an incredible program that allows teenagers to have foreign experiences in the most important years of their life. This program was so crucial and important to my growth as a teenager into adulthood. I was able to learn about another culture by fully immersing myself in my community through food, customs, music, and sports. I made some of my best friends on this program, in both the Dominican Republic and spread out across the U.S. I will never forget the day my partner and I decided to hold a meeting during midday, right around the time it started to rain, and quickly learned that none of the community members would show up with the rain still pouring. I ate so much delicious food, learned how to dance bachata and merengue, and got my fair share of "outs" in baseball. This program was the best summer I have ever spent in my life.

I signed up to be a project supervisor for this non-profit, Amigos de las Américas, in the summer of 2014. Before I knew it, I was boarding a plane and flying to a country I'd never been to- Nicaragua. As soon as I got there, I realized I had no way of reaching the project director, and I was the only staff member coming at an off time. Several Nicaraguans in the airport graciously offered me their phones to call my boss on his Nica phone, and everything went smoothly after that.

It's hard to describe in 200 words what this experience meant (and means) to me. I lived in a 2-bedroom house with 9 other people- it was cramped, but they were my family. We supported each other, we laughed, we cried- I don't think I've ever become so close to a group of people the way I did with this staff.

Nicaragua is known as "La Tierra de Lagos y Volcanes" and it definitely lived up to its name. But besides the great natural beauty of Nicaragua, I was blown away by the people. I felt like I really got to be a part of these rural communities- I was not just a visitor or a tourist, and I think that's what makes Amigos so unique. We don't come into these communities with our North American views and try to impose them on others. Rather, we come in with open minds, ready to engage in cross-cultural exchange. Of course, some of our "North-Americanness" inevitably peaks out over the summer, but it's about adjusting to a different lifestyle. I struggled to embrace the rural, laid-back lifestyle, but I also really learned from it.

Working in Cocle, Panama for 2 consecutive summers on the Amigos de las Americas staff team was an absolute dream. It amazes me each and every year how extensively each program is planned, executed and evaluated to make the subsequent projects even better. The maturity and competency of all involved (staff, volunteers, local community support) creates an incredible atmosphere focused on leadership and confidence-building. It is life-changing for all who take part.