AMIGOS FOR CHILDREN (AMIGOS A GYEREKEKÉRT) is a charity organization of students. Their goal is to make the days of seriously ill children better with the useful tool of language learning. But also handcrafting, games and creating friendships are part of their everyday life.
Sára Fábián made her dream a reality in 2014 – and the first Amigos was born. As the years went by, the team became bigger and bigger. They managed to improve the daily lives of the little patients at 5 hospitals in Budapest, and they felt the need to have a special place they would call their own.
So they found KAPTÁR, where they turned into a team of 80 people over the past year. They also started to get active in the countryside, in Szeged as well. Now, after a seemingly short but eventful year, it is time to say goodbye though. Amigos got the opportunity to join the office of a foundation, where they will get support on every level, together with several similar organizations.
Regarding this, I had a conversation with Sára, the founder of Amigos, about their KAPTÁR times.
I asked Sára, what she thinks is important when you start such an organization. For her the real value is in the people, that’s the first thing when making decisions. When open-minded people, who are driven by a common goal, find each other, then a good community evolves easily.
She tells me about their goals, which is to fit into a new community as a team in the next months and to find harmony. In the next years, they want to be present in every children’s clinic in the countryside and pass on their pilot project in Szeged. They also work on a social enterprise that supports parents. Since they can find themselves in very hard situations when their kids get into hospitals, their aim is to show support for them as well. The biggest dream is, of course, to be present in every hospital in the country, where kids recover and to have an Amigo beside every child.
What Sára is most proud of, is that they have always kept their promises during the past years and haven’t let down even one child.
I was curious about what they have learned here, at KAPTÁR.
Sára almost immediately has an answer. When she came to us for the first time, she was welcomed at the door by our host Laura, with a huge smile. She immediately felt that she’s at the right place. The first impression is crucial and after this experience, they also paid more attention to this.
She remembers another typical KAPTÁRian thing. The team spirit is very strong: thinking as a unity and deciding together. Their first conversation with Dóri, one of the founders, ended by her saying that the KAPTÁR team will decide how they will be able to help the organization. This really captured her and they created the same organizational culture.
These similarities helped these two independent teams to cooperate as it happens at KAPTÁR. By supporting each other in everyday life as a community but still keeping their independent identity.
And what meant KAPTÁR to the Amigos? The first real home.
