Chris Green, 17, spends time with his partner's host brothers and sisters in Intibucu, Honduras.
Amigos experience a life-changing summer
By Leigh Ann Maze
While some Saratoga teenagers spent their summer vacations relaxing, hanging out with friends or working, a few local teens spent a life-changing summer in Latin America.
Seven Saratoga residents, six of them students from Lynbrook and Saratoga High Schools, and one West Valley College student, spent up to eight weeks working and living in small communities in Latin America through the Amigos program.
Amigos is a voluntary, not-for-profit organization that provides leadership development opportunities for young people, promotes community health in Latin America and helps increase the understanding of different cultures.
Saratoga High School student Chris Green, 17, spent eight weeks of his summer in Intibucu, Honduras, building chicken coops, corn storage sheds, water storage and ovens and stoves. He also taught basic hygiene and healthcare to the town's school children, and taught organic gardening methods.
As with all Amigos volunteers, Green lived with a host family, with whom he said he felt he had become a part. Besides his host parents, he had two host sisters and three brothers. Green's host father owned a store in the town, and grew corn and coffee beans.
There was no electricity in Green's town of 120 people and the running water was not always reliable, which is why Green and his Amigos partner from New York built water storage tanks.
Green said he always felt safe in his community.
"The community is so close knit and tight that if we took a walk to the store, everyone knew about it," Green said. "The whole community kind of looked out for us, even though we were in foreign country where we didn't know anybody, or speak the language."
Green said he returned home to Saratoga, where he has lived his whole life, a changed person, although he said it was hard for him to put into words.
"In Saratoga they have enough money to buy material things," Green said. "In Honduras, everyone is striving just to live. It's not about what you have, or how well off you are because there's so much more to life. Simplicity is really important in Honduras and that was a big lesson to me."
Green said he plans to volunteer for the Amigos program again next summer in a different country to get "a different perspective," he said.
Jennifer Cohen, a Los Gatos resident who attends Saratoga High School, gives her host brother Selvin, 2, a hug during her summer in Intibucu, Honduras.
Jennifer Cohen, 17, a Los Gatos resident and SHS student was also a volunteer in Intibucu, Honduras, this summer, but in a different town. She worked on similar projects as Green and also taught English and hygiene in the local school. Cohen lived with host parents, three host brothers and three host sisters, ages 2 through 14, in an adobe brick house without electricity or running water.
"My dad grew corn and sold it," Cohen said. "They were especially poor because they also needed corn for themselves and their animals. My mother didn't work because they had so many kids to watch over."
No one in Cohen's community spoke English, and she said she felt awkward at first asking people to repeat themselves.
"But by the end, my partner and I had improved so much we could have conversations in Spanish for hours."
Cohen became very close to her family and the people in her community, and she said she had an amazing experience.
On the day before she returned home, her family surprised her with a cake that they had saved up for two months to afford, and that they had to travel to a neighboring town to buy.
"It was so touching," Cohen said.
That same day, while Cohen was packing to leave, a child asked her to come to the school. There, all of the children gave Cohen and her Amigos partner drawings and gave them hugs to say goodbye. Then they all sang the Honduran national anthem.
Cohen, too, feels that the experience has changed her.
"I have come out so much stronger," she said. "I'm much more independent and my leadership skills have gone through the roof, and my people skills, too. My parents are just shocked."
Cohen is planning to visit her host family for two weeks next year, and will volunteer for Amigos again in two summers.
SHS student Annie Morrissey spent seven weeks of her summer in Guanajuato, Mexico, in a tiny community of 400 people called El Coyote. Her projects included family gardens, mosquito netting, latrines and earthen stoves. Morrissey's town had electricity and pumped water from a well.
"It was absolutely amazing," Morrissey said of her experience. "I could have never imagined I would come so close to these people. They are like another family now. I can't wait to go back and visit them."
Jasdeep Khaira of Lynbrook High School went to Guanajuato, Mexico, and West Valley College student Laura Gurney went to Costa Rica
SHS student Judson Ostle spent his summer in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, and Jeff Chu, a Saratoga resident and Lynbrook High School student went to Oaxaca, Mexico.
While most Amigos have life-changing experiences, it isn't a program for everyone, according to Gladys Bernyk, a retired Saratoga resident who has been involved with the local chapter of Amigos since 1984, including three years as chapter president. One LGHS student this summer came home after one week.
Also, Amigos is a much larger commitment than eight weeks of summer. The volunteers train for a full year--three hours per week before they leave. Their parents also must be involved. The volunteers raise about $3,500 each to pay for airfare, building materials and other expenses by selling Texas Ruby Red grapefruits and poinsettias, and writing letters to family and friends.
Amigos has chapters across the country and sends about 600 volunteers to Latin America each summer, Bernyk said.
Informational meetings about the Amigos program will be held at Monte Vista High School on Sept. 20, in Room 9 at 7:30 p.m.; at the Bellarmine College Preparatory Liccardo Center on Sept. 27, at 7:30 p.m.; and at Los Gatos High School on Oct. 4, in Room 91 at 7:30 p.m.
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