Written by Abraham Cisne, Senior Program Officer, Youth Engagement and Irina Botu-Tallis, Youth Engagement Intern
This month we feature an interview with Krish, a powerful young woman. The Youth Engagement team has been talking about her since I met her in her home town of Ciudad del Este (CDE), Paraguay. CDE is a very commercial and bustling city located on Paraguay’s eastern border where it is common to hear Guaraní, Portuguese, Maká, and even Arabic in addition to Spanish around any of the given market districts which seem endless to outsiders like myself.
Being a border town, CDE faces many of the same challenges border towns around the world have including limited opportunities for its young population. It is infamously known for its contraband of everything from drugs, weapons, and people, to cigarettes and home appliances. Needless to say, many of its lower income young people who do not have access to good schools or opportunities to learn competitive skills are at risk of lagging behind those with more resources, or worse, they may seek other outlets that involve the local illicit market.
Krish participated in the 2010 Youth Ambassadors (YA) Programat the age of 17. YA is a program implemented by Partners of the Americas and funded by the U.S. State Department. With the support of her family, she started the inspirational Familia U.S.A. “vacation center” in 2008, where she envisioned children would spend their free time having fun in a productive way, while also giving local youth the opportunity to volunteer and share their varied skill sets such as foreign language or music lessons.
She started it in her small front yard. Since participating in the Youth Ambassadors program, she estimates that 4,000 youth have benefited from Familia U.S.A. programs which now teach not only English and French, but also offers leadership training, financial literacy, and chess classes in addition to other enriching activities. All of the programs they offer are immensely important considering that the children served would typically not be able to participate in this type of activities after school.
The following is an interview that Krish kindly granted us. She was happy to offer us more information about her work and her plans for the future. Undoubtedly, she is the #PartnersYouth of the Month. You can find out more about Familia U.S.A. by following their Facebook page.
Q: What is Familia U.S.A.? What is the mission of the center, and what services do you offer?
A: Familia U.S.A. Paraguay is an organization of youth leaders with artistic talents and expertise in languages, who seek to engage as many volunteers as possible to “learn by teaching” children, youth and adults about Paraguayan and international culture through dance, song recitation and drama while promoting a culture of volunteerism.We were founded in 2008 and our mission is to provide various forms of support to youth to improve their quality of life while fostering visionary leaders willing to take on community challenges. The services that we offer are: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Guaraní and Arabian language training; chess, singing, guitar and piano classes as well as entrepreneurship (Financial education for youth) and youth leadership.
Q: How many children/people have benefitted so far from Familia U.S.A. and is the population you serve diverse?
A: During these five years of service over 4000 people have benefitted from Familia U.S.A. The population we serve include children, youth and adults from Ciudad del Este (where we started), Pdte. Franco, Minga Guazú and Hernandarias (surrounding cities).
Q: What are some of the main challenges that Paraguayan youth face today and how does Familia USA help?
A: The main challenges that Paraguayan youth face today are economic problems like the lack of financial resources to pay for specialized studies, a lack of responsible organizations or community projects that track the results, and that young people who have jobs are finding it impossible to study due to lack of time.
Therefore we consider that the existence of organizations like ours help alleviate this shortage, providing a valuable tool for them to access international scholarships or a better position in the companies, besides giving them high quality leadership coaching to help them to perform better in different working areas.
Q: Why are places like Familia U.S.A. important for all of Paraguay?
A: First, because we create an alternative living space for children and outstanding young people with artistic, intellectual and sports talents so they can use these capacities to train themselves and help in volunteering while creating a greater awareness of the importance of volunteering for our country. We serve as a complement to educational institutions and provide opportunities for the whole family to participate. There is interest among young people from different departments of our country to bring the idea of Family U.S.A. Paraguay to their communities, but we cannot do it due to the lack of funds and volunteers in those communities.
Q: Where did the concept of Familia U.S.A. come from and how did it start?
A: It started from a need that I as a young person was able to identify. There was the need of a place where we can interact with the goal of making a positive impact on our society. In my country the youth are seen as being not very dedicated people, irresponsible, without commitment to their country. All these prejudices were the reasons why I wanted to create something new, different and unique, which at the same time would help me strengthen my leadership skills and improve the level of the languages that I had already learned (English and French).
At that time, I was only 15 years old, so I asked my family for support and we presented the project to the Municipal Library of our city. The response was positive because of my background in arts and oratory.
The acronym U.S.A. integrates three concepts:
1 - Unity, Solidarity and Learning;
2 - American Social Union (in Spanish: Unión Social Americana), and
3 - United States of America.
Q: Have you partnered with anybody such as the government, other organizations, or institutes?
Familia USA's Anniversary
A: Yes, we are partnering with the Municipality of Ciudad del Este (CDE) teaching English, French and chess for free in the Municipal Library of CDE. We have also made an agreement with the Municipality of Hernandarias for two years from September 2010 to September 2012, to support us in teaching English for free. In addition, we made an agreement with a private educational institution for a year and a school for blind people in our city.
Q: Besides your work with Familia U.S.A., what leadership roles have you two assumed since becoming a Youth Ambassador?
A: I led the team from Alto Paraná in the reforestation project of the Youth Ambassadors 2010 called "Green Care", and I created the Youth Ambassador Coaching Program to train young candidates from Alto Paraná to be Youth Ambassadors. One of our English students was selected in to become a Youth Ambassador in 2012.
Q: What would you like to accomplish with Familia U.S.A. in the future?
A: I would like the organization to be recognized internationally and to have the support of young volunteers from around the world; to access international scholarships; to receive U.S. youth volunteers and to have our own educational center.
Q: What did you enjoy most when you participated in the Youth Ambassadors program?
A: What I enjoyed most was to share with Youth Ambassadors from other countries, we had unforgettable experiences together; of course, it was amazing to visit the historical monuments in Washington, DC! I also enjoyed the presentations we made in schools and universities, teaching about Paraguayan culture and showing our artistic talents, besides the excellent way we were welcomed.
Q: How did Youth Ambassadors program help with this project?
A: The Youth Ambassadors program was very important because it gave us more credibility when we started teaching English. And it also gave young people like me the opportunity to fulfill a dream: to get to know the United States of America. If it wasn’t for this program the trip to the U.S wouldn’t have been possible.