Spreading hope, and knowledge, in South America

In 1994 -- during the summer before College seniors Jesse Fuchs-Simon and Nicolas Cuttriss entered their freshman year of high school -- Jose Gabriel's parents brought their 11-year-old son to the United States to seek treatment for his diabetes. Their native Ecuador offered no resources to combat the disorder.

The Gabriels stayed with their family friends, the Fuchs-Simons, in a move that eventually saved the life of young Jose.

"Jose Gabriel, an upper-middle class kid in Ecuador, is saved because he has the privilege of coming to the U.S.," Cuttriss said. "He is one of the more fortunate ones, and the question was, what is going on with all the other kids?"

The answer, Cuttriss says, was a sobering one.

"They are dying."

Cuttriss and Fuchs-Simon set out to change this, founding American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad, Inc. -- or AYUDA -- in 1996.

In Spanish, "ayuda" means "to help," and that is exactly what the duo hopes the 2002 AYUDA Black and White Ball, which will be held tonight at the Ballroom at the Ben, will accomplish. The black tie affair is being held to raise money so that diabetic children in Latin America can attend AYUDA summer camps, where they will learn about their disease and receive much-needed medical attention.

Fuchs-Simon said all proceeds from the $45 tickets -- which gain Penn students admittance to the gala, as well as access to hors d'oeuvres, a silent auction and other entertainment -- will help fund AYUDA camps this upcoming summer.

"All the money that is going to be raised is going directly to running two summer camps in Ecuador that Penn students will be working at," Fuchs-Simon said. "The money from the ball goes directly to getting the medical supplies and educational materials that are necessary to run these camps this summer."

In addition to helping a good cause, Fuchs-Simon said the ball has other incentives for Penn students.

"The silent auction has weekend getaway packages, tickets to a 76ers-Knicks game, a trip to D.C. to see the Wizards play and tickets to Saturday Night Live."

But although AYUDA is celebrating and fundraising in style, Cuttriss said that the program's beginnings were quite humble.

"When we got [to Ecuador], we were working in the hallways of a public hospital where the workers were on strike," he said.

In fact, Fuchs-Simon said that initially, the country of Ecuador wanted nothing to do with their cause, despite the fact that over 90 percent of Ecuadorian children with diabetes were never diagnosed and ended up dying before the age of 25.

"We went down and met with doctors and health officials to try to convince people that we needed to get something started and needed the government and medical community to acknowledge diabetes, but no one would help us," Fuchs-Simon said. "So we came back and decided that we needed to do something ourselves, and then we founded AYUDA."

Fuchs-Simon says that after only a little over five years of work, AYUDA now supports between 40 and 50 percent of the diabetic population in Ecuador.

While the camps do provide medical treatment for diabetes, Fuchs-Simon said the medical aspect is not AYUDA's main focus.

"Taking care of diabetes isn't so much medical knowledge as it is how [diabetic children] carry themselves and manage their lives," he said.

Wharton senior and AYUDA Treasurer Jared Hendricks, who spent last summer at an AYUDA camp in Ecuador, agrees.

"It wasn't even about blood sugar or insulin," Hendricks said. "It was just about playing with the kids and showing them that their disease was totally normal, and their lives can be normal... as long as they maintain control of their disease.

"Their diabetes should never prevent them from doing anything that they want to do," he added.

But Cuttriss said that in South America, information about the debilitating illness was not readily available to doctors and patients alike.

"After researching diabetes for six months, we knew more about diabetes than they did having it their whole lives," Cuttriss said. "There was something wrong with that."

Through AYUDA, the friends say they began the arduous process of educating Latin American youth about diabetes.

"We've written a book, published by the Pan-American Health Organization, that's used as an educational tool in almost every country in South America," Fuchs-Simon said. "You can survive with diabetes for a long time, but every aspect of your life -- sleep, diet, exercise, work -- affects your diabetes."

Cuttriss said that he has personally watched families benefit from the increased diabetic awareness that AYUDA brings.

"Before [AYUDA], they thought they were alone, but then they realized there were others in their position," he said. "We heard a story of a girl who wouldn't eat her food because she thought it was taking away money from her brother's insulin, so she was basically starving herself."

And Fuchs-Simon said that the diabetic campers are not the only ones to benefit from AYUDA.

"My experience and devotion to AYUDA is what defines me as a person," Fuchs-Simon said. "That's who I am, and that's what I do. It gives me pleasure."

While the overall success of AYUDA brings him pleasure as well, Cuttriss said that one Cinderella story particularly touches him.

"This girl, Maria Fernando, started out in the hallways of this hospital, and we were going over our workbook with her, and now she is the lead counselor at our camp, going over the same workbook with other campers," Cuttriss said. "She's 22, and most people didn't live past 18. People are living longer, and that's the most rewarding feeling."

Similarly, College senior Beryl Solomon said she found her experience as an AYUDA counselor to be very moving.

"I thought we were going down there with a medicine goal, but I felt that our biggest accomplishment turned out to be playing with the kids and making them happy," Solomon said. "Just giving them the opportunity to run and play and have a normal camp experience -- that impacted me the most."

AYUDA's success, Cuttriss says, transcends the microcosm of diabetes and speaks to a larger cause.

"It demonstrates that anyone can make a difference," he said. "It shows that two high school sophomores can go down to Ecuador and start their own 501C and eat lunch with the president and first lady of Ecuador and get government funding. It speaks to the power of youth."

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