I was an AMIGOS volunteer in 2015, and the experience and organization were a deeply impactful part of my high school and young adult years. In the summer of 2015 (at 16-years old), I served on a project supporting microenterprise ventures for local youth in Cotopaxi, Ecuador for 6 weeks. Through this experience, I gained an invaluable perspective into the world of development work (economic, social, and educational) and kickstarted my work ethic and global responsibility at a young age. I went on to serve as a Youth Ambassador with Rotary International in Argentina for a year and then studied International Relations and Economic Development in university. I was 100% better off for having been involved with and supported by AMIGOS in my teen years. I would recommend this program to anyone, especially as it's expanded it's scope to include year-round programming.
I was enormously disappointed with the program because Amigos required me to do my own fundraising in addition to paying over $6,300 to participate That's an outrageous amount of money, especially considering that the cost of living is so low there. I could have spent the same amount of money and stayed for 6 months, not 6 weeks, if I did the trip on my own. Volunteers relentlessly made their pitches at my school to convince kids to participate as well as urge their parents and relatives to donate money to their company. I was given the impression I'd get financial aid but I got nothing - like I said, I was responsible for fundraising and using social media to draw more people in. There are better ways to experience another culture and perform community service than to go through Amigos. They claim that they'll increase your confidence through their programs, but if you think about it, you already have to be pretty confident to be willing to travel abroad to a rural community abroad. Overpriced. Underwhelming. Look elsewhere.