Saratoga News


Nicole Behnke	Jessica Byers	Megan Kirwin

Saratogans become Amigos in Latin American countries

By Tim Persyn

Three young women from Saratoga are making friends in Latin America this summer as they participate in the "Amigos de las Americas" program. This program sends volunteers to various Latin American countries to do community service work.

All three are students of Saratoga High School, and each has already left to complete a community service project in a Latin American country. The Amigos projects last four, six or eight weeks.

Nicole Behnke is working in the Dominican Republic to create energy-efficient stoves; Jessica Byers is living in Paraguay and working on a human immunization program; and Megan Kirwin is in Mexico to assist with development of a community sanitation program. Behnke also volunteered last summer, along with Saratoga High graduate Sarah Jones.

Last summer Jones went to Honduras for six weeks, where she worked on a community sanitation project building latrines. She also helped promote dental health, nutrition and reforestation. The summer before, she was in Paraguay for eight weeks, working on a community sanitation project.

"It's hard to put in words," Jones said. "I gained so much. Overall, I've gained knowledge of another culture and learned what it's like in another country, where people are trusting, caring and loving naturally.

"My Spanish has improved immensely. I've gained a lot of understanding from working in an atmosphere totally different from the one I was used to."

Jones served as assistant training director this year.

To become an Amigo, potential volunteers must meet age and language requirements and must participate in a training program. Amigos must be 16 by May 1 of the year they want to participate, and they must have completed two years of Spanish by the fall they enroll, or be a native speaker.

Amigos volunteers undergo training from November to May the year before they leave. Sessions are once a week for three hours. Lessons include CPR, self-defense, health education and Latin American culture.

In addition, each volunteer helps to raise the $3,000 necessary to fund participation in the project.

Amigos volunteers live in specific Latin American communities, which they help through their chosen projects. While living in a community, each Amigo is partnered with at least one fellow volunteer from the program.

Projects include environmental education, school renovation, and construction of fuel-efficient stoves.

Amigos de las Americas, a private nonprofit organization, started as a community service project in Honduras in 1965. It has since spread to countries throughout Latin America.

Gladys Bernyk, who was a charter member of the Santa Clara Valley chapter incorporated in 1985, said Amigos projects are carried out with the cooperation of the country which is visited. In fact, the projects are usually sponsored by the government or a nonprofit organization in the visited country, she said.

Nick Fumia, a Los Gatos resident, recently left for Ecuador to work on an environmental education project. This will be his first Amigos trip, but he has heard about the program through his sister, a former Amigo. "I hope to get a better sense of the world around me--to see how other people live," he said.

Parents might be pleasantly surprised at the "real world" education their children receive through Amigos. Velita Behnke, mother of Nicole, said her daughter learned many things from an Amigos trip last summer to Mexico.

"She developed a more global understanding--that not everyone is privileged with such simple things as dental hygiene," the mother said.

Bernyk reflected on the benefits of participating in Amigos. "The kids come back with a tremendous maturity, growth and self-esteem. They are probably forever changed. They've seen something different from Saratoga."