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Meet Elza Fernandes dos Santos
Elza Fernandes dos Santos -
FFI Board Member -
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Elza joined Friendship Force in 1988, right after reading about it in a weekly magazine. It was a Sunday morning and she was having breakfast with her husband, who is a very shy guy - he got shocked when she told him that they would be members and could host foreign friends at their home and also to be hosted in other countries by them!
She now has been as exchange director in 9 Outbound and 11 Inbound Exchanges. She served as Club President from 2001 to 2006; was the Host Chair for the 2005 International Conference in Sao Paulo, Field Representative for the Sao Paulo Region (2004/2005) and Vice-President of Brazil’s Council (2006/2007).
Elza graduate from Ibero Americana University with a degree in Tourism, and worked in human resources and sales as an Executive Secretary to Glasurit do Brasil, Villares Componentes Automotivos and Ultragaz S/A for more than 20 years. After that, Elza founded her own company Ferblanc Drinques Dançante Ltda, which she ran for more than 10 years. She retired in 2006.
In addition to Portuguese, she speaks English and Spanish. Elza has traveled extensively with the Friendship Force and participated in a three-month home stay with a family in Colorado.
When she isn’t traveling, Elza loves theatre, reading and gym classes.
Elza Maria Fernandes dos Santos is married to Eduardo de Cillo. Nowadays, she looks after Eduardo’s nephew, Lucas, during the week, their Godson, and she thinks it´s wonderful to have a teenager near by.
Twenty years have since that Sunday morning when the Friendship Force came into their life, and both are very pleased to have many friends around the world, friends who keep in touch, whether the news is happy or sad, that is what friends are for. It is impossible to imagine their lives without The Friendship Force.
With Friendship Force is possible to imagine how the world could live in peace, that all human beings are similar, and the only things that really change re: language and currency.
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