Hello, my name is Samantha Andrade, I am 19 years old and I am from Ecuador. A few weeks ago, I returned from a period of AMA volunteering in Guatemala.
Who in their right mind decides to leave their country right after high school to go meet the other? I suppose one must be a little crazy and brave to follow their heart and go against the current of the world. This is my story.
I remember myself at seven years old, crying and asking God to take away the suffering of the world, promising that I would help. Who would have thought the answer would come to me through a notice on the school board just months before graduating? Becoming an AMA wasn’t even on my mind in my last year; my only thoughts were which career to choose and which university to attend. However, that desire to help growing within me emerged during my preparation.
I was afraid; no one teaches you how difficult it is to stay firm when you constantly hear, “it’s a waste of time” or “you can’t contribute anything if you don’t have a degree yet.” At that moment, I learned that to serve God, the gifts are already within you; you just need courage to show them. So, against all odds and after shedding a few tears, I arrived in Guatemala, what I now consider my second home.
Have you ever experienced crying from happiness? I have. At the boarding school, I helped a twelve-year-old girl whose first language was not Spanish. At first, communicating with her was difficult. Imagine me, a chatterbox, facing a girl who only nodded when I asked something. Over time, we found our rhythm, and she lost her shyness about making mistakes with me. I remember helping her with homework, she bent over her notebook, erasing her mistakes without my prompting. Tears streamed down my face without me noticing, I was so happy, my heart racing. Seeing that my help was bearing fruit filled my soul. Sometimes, just your presence can make a difference in someone’s life. She did for me.
I taught physical education to eighth graders; it was quite a challenge. Standing in front of twenty-five children, keeping them calm while also making them motivated by the class. I won’t lie, there were moments I wanted to run away. Yet there were also times they made me laugh unexpectedly. That’s the magic of working with youth.
Through this experience, I understood that being with God is a decision you make every day. Being far from school or anyone inviting me closer to Him, I had to take ownership of that connection. Relationships are built, and mine with God strengthened over those five months. He became someone close because when emotions overwhelmed me, I would sit before the Most High and breathe again. I learned to value those moments of silence where His presence was an embrace.
As the days passed, I realized how fortunate I am. In the communities I visited with the sisters, there was great need, a lack of basic resources, absence of regular teachers, roads in poor condition, and the significant migration to the United States for a better future. I asked myself: what makes me different from these children? Why did I have privileges and they did not? In that moment, I understood that we live in a world marked by inequality and lack of empathy. Before this experience, I lived focused only on myself and my close circle; now, I cannot ignore the suffering of others. I made it my goal not to forget, to engrave the experiences I lived in my heart so that each day I seek to help. I still need to explore my country, genuinely immerse myself in my town and its grief, continue growing, and alongside me will be the faces that inspire me to keep delving into myself and what I can contribute to the kingdom.