Interview with Ernesto Nam, the founder of “Englobar”

“I saw my father cry, and it was the first time I saw him cry, and then we lost our house and had to move suddenly, and then a few months later, I was rejected from every college I applied to, all in a really short period of time.”

But Ernesto Nam turned these difficult months into something beautiful, maximizing his sabbatical to work on causes he was passionate about while prioritizing personal growth and understanding. During his family’s economic crisis, Ernesto was already working with a “Habit for Humanity” type foundation called TECHO, which ended up being a tremendous source of inspiration for him. “While all this was going on, I had the opportunity to be the leader of a build with TECHO, which was a 10-week process,” Ernesto said. “I was the first teenager to lead a build primarily of college students.”

He began spending 20 to 30 hours a week helping to organize a five-day build to build housing for vulnerable communities, which was the largest build of the year. It re-oriented Ernesto’s perspective and gave him a great source of happiness. “I was helping people who had practically nothing, and they were happy because they were going to have a house,” Ernesto said, “and I was sad because I had almost everything but a house for a short period of time.”

All of this combined to push Ernesto to start a nonprofit during his gap year because he didn’t want to rely solely on TECHO to be able to impact people’s lives. So, he started Englobar as his passion project for social impact and also started tutoring people in his community to help his parents financially as much as he could because he was also an Olympic math champion.

Englobar aims to address several prevalent social problems while motivating volunteers to contribute positively to society. “Starting in Paraguay and Latin America, we see that besides having a bad educational system, a bad social system, and a lot of corruption, there is a bigger problem of widespread hopelessness,” Ernesto said.

He insisted on hopelessness as the biggest problem because it leads to people contributing less to their communities, and that is exactly what his organization aims to combat through education. While they focused on teaching the underprivileged, Ernesto didn’t stop there, noting the potential for privileged people to help their communities as well if they knew how. So, while they teach basic reading and math to their students so they can pursue what their interests really are, they also conduct leadership and environmental education activities. Hence, their students have a solid foundation and the ability to effect even small changes.

Englobar is currently in Paraguay and Mexico with over 250 volunteers. Ernesto was not only able to turn an unfortunate situation into a positive one but also reshaped his thought process about the future and what is important to him as well. After applying to only the best American universities, he now realizes that the name of the school is not what matters but what he can do with his education. His maturity and experience now radiate from him. “From my high school experience for TECHO, I found my passion for helping those less fortunate,” Ernesto said, “and then with my family situation, I really found my true north.”