You create hope.
Hope is expectation. Hope is that deep desire for more. Hope is that feeling of trust. Trust that there is more to come, and trust that what is coming is better.
For Eddy Mayorga, being a part of the Amigos Family and the Leaders in Action Program provided hope for many years, and he has internalized that trust to now become a lighthouse of hope for the people around him.
When Eddy joined Leaders in Action back in 2014, he was only 17 years old. Those 17 years had already provided a lifetime of challenges. We met Eddy as an orphan living with his grandma and uncle. He was struggling to stay in school because he was lacking many necessary resources and hope for his future. He was bounced from home to home, school to school, and he had no vision for what his life could be.
Joining Leaders in Action changed that.
Hope was born through his weekly service hours, monthly leadership workshops, and thoughtful mentorship by Amigos team members. As Eddy gave himself the freedom to dream up a brighter future, his gentle, wise, and energetic personality began to show through more and more. He began to emerge from the shadows that the circumstances of his past had created, and the light from within him began to shine.
If Eddy would have heard, all those years ago: “In 2021, you’re going to be a 3rd year college student studying to become an Agricultural Engineer, you’re going to be working for Amigos as a full-time Farm Promoter, and you’ll boldly get up in front of over 100 people to speak freely and confidently about your work and life,” he would have never believed the future that he was going to create for himself.
Laughing to himself, Eddy would tell you that he didn’t talk for his first couple of years as a Leader in Action, but now he is a model leader for the other 155 students in the program. Being a high school and university student is hard, but the road is much smoother when someone is ahead of you on the path, showing you the way and reminding you that you’re not alone.
Eddy is this trailblazer, and he is guided by the hope that together, we are more.
