“For my first six weeks of the internship, I worked for Mines Action Canada due to unforeseen circumstances that prevented me from working with my host organization.”
Since I have been living in Canada all my life, and consume Canadian media, learning about Canada was not part of my internship for these 6 weeks.
However, for the past three weeks, I have been working for South Sudan Action Network on Small Arms (SSANSA). One of my main jobs is to monitor the media and provide summaries for relevant articles to SSANSA. This has been very eye-opening for me, as I am keeping up to date on the current news in South Sudan and pulling relevant information to be summarized in a professional manner. I would have never kept up with South Sudanese news without this internship, so it is a good opportunity to really learn and understand the hardships and triumphs of another country.
Furthermore, it has allowed me to have a deeper understanding of how important SSANSA’s work and vision is. Reading about the issues that SSANSA works on, such as civilian disarmament, almost every day in the news shows me how much SSANSA is needed. Learning more about your host country will lead you to a higher appreciation for the important work your organization does.