PEOPLE
Retired teacher is among Buffalo’s ambassadors to the world
People to People became her 'identity'
In 1991, when Ginine Capozzi was 13 years old, she had a chance to go to Russia with a group called People to People. First, her mother checked them out through the Better Business Bureau. “It was the only way I could think to check their credentials,” said Barbara Capozzi of Williamsville.
Then, still leery, she attended an informational meeting. “I sat down thinking, ‘What crazy organization would think I’m sending my 13-year-old to Russia?’”
By the end of the evening, Barbara Capozzi began to wonder how she could get involved.
Following through on that question has led to international adventures, a passport that’s double the normal size and the expectation, now, that she’ll spend six months traveling each year.
“I’ll fly to Italy for four days for a conference,” said Capozzi, who is now on the board for international activities.
“It’s been life-altering,” said the former teacher who retired from Casey Middle School in Amherst more than 15 years ago. “It’s become my identity.”
Seventeen years after that initial contact, she can boast of having filled several roles for the group and visited 60 countries (her daughter has been to about half that number.)
It’s exactly what President Dwight D. Eisenhower had in mind when he founded the organization in 1956 with the underlying belief that if ordinary citizens could communicate directly they would solve differences and find a way to live in peace.
Now, Capozzi works closely with Eisenhower’s granddaughter, Mary, whom she has visited in Kansas City.
“I even slept in Ike’s bed when I was there,” she said. “It was his childhood bed, and it wasn’t comfortable, but the point is that I did it.”
This summer, mother and daughter will, once again, travel to Russia, overseeing a group of students on visits to St. Petersburg, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Prague.
“It’s really intensely packed,” she said. “The days are from 6 a. m. to 11 p. m. If they want to skip the shower, they can sleep until 7.
“I’d say thousands of kids have traveled in our programs,” she said. The cost for each student for a two-to three-week trip ranges from $5,000 to $6,000. “Some of them save every penny for it themselves,” said Capozzi, “and in other cases, the parent writes a check.”
Students often receive high school credit through their Global Studies curriculum. Besides sightseeing and entertainment, they meet with local citizens and municipal officials, and they contribute to the area they visit, having planted trees in the Black Forest and worked in orphanages.
Mainly, they stay at hotels, Capozzi said, but often there are home stays with families for three nights. “In Russia, though, we only do dinners at the home because the housing is so crowded,” she said. They always get basic language instruction and cooking lessons that included crocodile and kangaroo when they visited Australia.
“Sometimes, it’s hard for parents to let them go,” said Capozzi, who is area director for upstate students, “but once you open up the world, you find a global family.”
That’s been true for her family, as well, said Capozzi, who is married.
“You learn as much about yourself as you do about the outside world,” said Ginine, who works as a trainer for M&T Bank.
Capozzi recalls that when her son, Gino, was a college student he called to say he was going to Luxembourg for spring break. When she asked why he wanted to go so far, he said: “Mom, we’re not a Disneyland family any more.”
Indeed.
In fact, Capozzi counts her international friends in the hundreds and stays in touch through e-mail and Facebook.
Recently, she had a group of Iraqi women at her home on extremely short notice. “I got a call at 10 one night to see if I could host them for lunch,” said Capozzi. “I asked when and they said the next day...I don’t know where the State Department got my number.
“I love the Middle East and the warmth of the people,” she said. “Before I went there, I updated my will. I didn’t know if they’d shoot me. Instead, they shot an arrow in my heart.”
Besides the Iraqis, Capozzi has entertained guests from from Russia, Albania, Jordan, Egypt, Italy, Morocco and Japan. In September, she’ll be back in Egypt (where she facilitates a Peace Camp) for her sixth visit.
Her house is filled with photo albums, scenic prints from many countries and a collection of boxes as mementos from countries that include Germany, Albania, France, Greece and China.
But it’s the experiences that the Capozzis count as the real treasures. For one, Ginine recounts being in Russia when the economy was so bad that people were forced to sell personal possessions, including a bugle that a boy in her group bought.
He started playing it later that night, she recalls.
“It was about 10:30 at night, but it was July and it stays light until quite late,” she said. “So, he played taps out the window and some random person played back. It was a nameless, faceless individual, but they went back and forth for about half an hour.”
Such serendipitous experiences, multiplied by the hundreds, become part of what Capozzi considers the “living classroom” that she’s been enjoying for the past 17 years.
“It’s pretty phenomenal what happened,” said Capozzi. “We’re a regular family from Buffalo who’s gone international.”
