AMIGOS Austin Chapter Sends Best Wishes to Emily Untermeyer

Emily Untermeyer, President of Amigos de las Americas, has announced that she will be leaving her position at the end of this year’s summer programs.  Emily took the helm of AMIGOS in 1998 and has provided over 11 years of outstanding leadership with the organization.  Emily’s leadership within the organization runs deep.  She was an AMIGOS volunteer in Guatemala in 1969 and Colombia in 1970.  Then, in 1971, Emily blazed the trail of gender equity within the organization and became the first female project staff member (can one imagine a time without women leaders in AMIGOS, who now lead at all levels of the organization?!? We thank you Emily). She then served on project staff from 1971 through 1973 in Nicaragua and Paraguay.  Using our editorial freedom, we have to infer that her many leadership contributions to the organization were no doubt influenced by her being a resident of Austin at the time.  In addition to graduate training in public health at the University of North Carolina, Emily served for many years as the Executive Director of the Texas Cancer Council, based in Austin, Texas.  While living in Austin, Emily served on the International Board of Director of AMIGOS from 1990 - 1996.

Under Emily’s leadership, the organization has grown in many ways. AMIGOS’ volunteer and project staff numbers grew by leaps and bounds while new chapters were established throughout the U.S. A very important contribution to the organization has been Emily’s stewardship for extending AMIGOS to youth from Latin America. Under Emily’s leadership, the organization recruited and fielded the first Latin American youth to serve as volunteers and project staff with the organization. Among many Latin American youth initiatives that have taken place under Emily’s tenure, this past year was the second year in which we had youth from the Dominican Republic serve as AMIGOS volunteers in Nicaragua. Emily was also instrumental in establishing the AMIGOS Foundation, which provides small community development grants to AMIGOS’ host communities in Latin America. Under Emily’s leadership, AMIGOS re-opened the Panama project, opened projects in Uruguay for the first time, and piloted new January-term efforts in Costa Rica, among many other important developments.

We had the opportunity to ask Emily a few questions about her experience with AMIGOS. To begin with, and for the Austin record, Emily relates that “only AMIGOS could take Bruce [her husband] and me away from Austin,” when Emily moved to Houston to lead the organization in the late 1990s.  (The Austin Chapter forgives Emily for leaving us - but only because she left for the greater good of AMIGOS).  When we asked Emily about her favorite memories with AMIGOS ‘in the field’, Emily recalls attending a youth encuentro (encounter) in Panama in 2007 accompanied by AMIGOS’ Board members. At AMIGOS’ many youth encuentros that take place each year, AMIGOS volunteers engage in a range of leadership, team-building, and service planning initiatives with youth and community members from our rural host communities.  At that encuentro, Emily felt proud about how far AMIGOS had come with regard to incorporating Latin American youth into our programs. She also recalls her first visit to a rural Oaxacan community in 1998 after having been away from AMIGOS for the past 25 years.  She shares, “A wonderful sense of peace and comfort came over me as I experienced the sights, smells, dirt roads, children, roosters—everything.”  Another vivid experience for Emily with AMIGOS dates back to 1969, when she was first a volunteer in Guatemala. She recalls watching with her community on the only TV set in miles Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. Emily shares that these experiences represented “[s]pecial moments in which I recall noting the inter-connectedness of people across countries and cultures, and the similarity of our dreams, joys and human experiences.”

We asked Emily what she is most excited about regarding the present or future of AMIGOS:  “My dream is that someday, hopefully before our 50^th anniversary, we will have project staffs with a mixture of youth from throughout the Americas, not just from throughout the U.S.”  When we asked what she will miss the most about AMIGOS, Emily shares, “The people.  [It] has been an honor to meet and work with so many good-hearted and civic-minded people from across the Americas.” She will also miss being inspired by “teenagers and young adults who have a beautiful combination of wisdom, initiative, cultural competence, and community spirit.” We know that the Austin Chapter and youth from throughout the Americas will also miss Emily’s inspirational leadership and true-AMIGOS spirit.