By Guy Bevil, Founder of Amigos de las Américas, Written in 1989:

It was never my intention, or that of any others, that we should create a new agency. We started as AMIGOS back in 1965 with serious questions about whether we could do everything we were committed to doing that summer. But we did it… and here we are! How did we do it? Why did we succeed where many others have failed? Three key principles in our success were:

We were willing to work where no one else would. When we went to the Minister of Health in Honduras, we said we wanted to work in the most abandoned areas, where no health service was available, where a permanent worker would not want to live, where the government could not serve. Of course this created a credibility gap: they did not believe we were really willing to live in such places… and if we did, there was the question of whether we would survive. Of course, we had to place some limits on work areas. We said we would go to the end of the road, plus four hours on foot or mule beyond. Often that was stretched by an hour or two.

We pointed out that working in those areas would protect the host government from any embarrassment in case of failure. "If we fail, no one will know it; if we succeed, you get all the credit." Who could resist an offer like that? This leads to the second factor in our success:

We did not seek acclaim for our work. We went with the attitude the people of Honduras were doing something for us rather than reverse. They deserve the praise for trusting us, feeding us and sheltering us. We didn’t care who got the credit for our work. We discouraged honors. It was understood no one could be recognized unless everyone was recognized, and diplomas became the accepted form of recognition.

We allowed young people to run the show in the field. From the beginning it was understood the adults would run the program in Houston and the young people would run it in Honduras. What we were doing was so unique that we had to create an organization, which would work without regular transportation or communication. Every day presented new challenges. Only young people could be flexible enough to face the challenges of overcoming major obstacles every day. And they did just that, and are still doing it today. My own small contribution was to see the possibilities of matching the desperate needs in Central America with the boundless energy and idealism of American young people. It is still a winning combination.

For AMIGOS to continue, we must keep trusting in our young people. I keep hearing: "Times have changed… young people today are not idealistic… this generation is more materialistic." If you are to believe that, just talk to one of last summer’s veterans. When we give them an opportunity to participate in the AMIGOS programs, they come back and inspire us. As long as we hold to our original inspiration we will not have to worry about the ongoing success of our organization. Our greatest risk will be that in doing such a good job, we may raise standards in Latin America to a point where we put ourselves out of business.

Read More About The Early Years