This August, twenty Hamilton Scholars and AHFA staff participated in the first annual international Hamilton Leader Week in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The eight-day program was in partnership with Cross-Cultural Solutions of New Rochelle, New York and the main purpose of the trip was to participate in a service project at the Don Bosco Centre de Formation Professionelle in Guatemala City. The Guatemala Don Bosco program was founded in the 1920s by a group of Italian Catholic priests using the teachings of St. John "Don" Bosco and dedicated to helping the poor and the young.The organization operates trade schools, boys and girls clubs and community centers worldwide, including the United States.

“We took great pains to develop a program that was integrated into our overall curriculum goals”, said George Cox, president of the AHFA. “In this era of globalization, we felt our Scholars needed an international experience that would help ground their future decisions. We think we got off to a good start toward this objective”, he added.

According to the Scholars program evaluations, this assessment appears accurate. Wrote one, “This was the most amazing thing I've experienced ... My eyes were drastically opened to the realities of the rest of the world.” Another Scholar said: “I will never forget the friendships, laughter, tears and inspiration from this Guatemala journey.”

The group arrived on Saturday, August 16th and the program began the next day with a full orientation by Guatemala native and Cross-Cultural Solutions Director, Virginia Burmeister. Ms. Burmeister gave an overview of the week's activities, discussed insights into international cultural issues and reviewed the mission of Cross-Cultural Solutions. Following this briefing the group boarded two vans and traveled an hour to Antigua, a former Spanish colonial capital. In Antigua the Scholars had an opportunity to tour the city and reacquaint themselves with one another – most had met the previous summer in Seattle at the first Hamilton Leaders Academy Week. That evening AHFA staff kicked-off their curriculum with a session lead my AHFA volunteer, Kelly Herrington.

The week began in earnest on Monday and the pattern of each weekday was the same. In the mornings the group volunteered at Don Bosco; the afternoons were involved with cultural experiences; and the evenings dealt with Hamilton-related activities. It made for a full program.

The Don Bosco Centre de Formation Professionale in Guatemala City operates a vocational school where teenage boys become skilled in one of five trades: welding, metal work, carpentry, electrical and computer maintenance. The programs are two years in length and about 65 students are currently enrolled. Our Hamilton Scholars were initially broken up into two groups. One group was assigned the task of painting the outdoor sports area and the medical clinic. The others worked in the classroom where the students of Don Bosco taught them about the specific trade they were learning. “At first, we were a bit tentative, but it wasn't long before the boys were showing us how to weld, cut metal and turn wood,” said one staff. On subsequent days the groups alternated, so by week's end everyone had a chance to paint and get to know the Don Bosco students. The students taught our scholars some Spanish, while we tried to teach them some English.

Also, by week's end some real bonding occurred. The Don Bosco students made jewelry for some of the girls, fashioned charms out of Guatemalan coins, shared family pictures and traded email addresses. “The Don Bosco experience was priceless,” wrote one Scholar.

The afternoon excursions included a trip to a Maya village,  a visit and tour of a museum of Maya culture; and an unforgettable tour of Guatemala City's most impoverished areas. The emotional experience was gripping. Reflecting on the shanty town tour and the experience in general one Scholar wrote, “It has changed my outlook on life to discover how much those who have so little can give and that the most important things really are intangible.” Said Cox, “I had seen poverty in other areas of the world, but this poverty was different. These people are very proud. I saw young girls dressed in neat pleated skirts and white knee socks, laughing as they walked into the shanty town where they lived – where there was scant electricity, no running water nor sanitation. They may be economically very poor, but I sensed pride and a sense of self that was spiritually intact. Where there is laughter, there is hope.”

The evening Hamilton activities included a review of work from the previous year, goal setting, an introduction to leadership and discussion sessions where Scholars were given the opportunity to process what they were experiencing. “We packed a lot into the week”, said Cox. “It was all good and the Scholars helped greatly with their feedback at the close of the week. We now feel we are in a position to integrate the first and second year programs more completely. We definitely proved two things: the international experience fits into our overall Hamilton Leaders Academy program; and we can put together a powerful and meaningful international program in partnership with Cross-Cultural Solutions.”

On the last night of the program, the Scholars traveled to Mount Pacaya, an active volcano, where they hiked or rode horses to a point high on the slopes. They then carefully walked about two hundred yards over a crusted river of lava and ash to an area with deep crevasses extending down to the molten lava below. There the Scholars had one final incredible experience: observing the magnificent sunset over the forests and volcanic mountains of Guatemala, and roasting marshmallows from the lava's heat. “It was a perfect way to end (the week)”, said one.