International

It’s hard to try to explain anything about my life in Malawi. I have trouble believing that I’m the one actually living it most days. There is a part of me that remains in denial, cannot believe I am in Africa, as if I’m still in Canada and this has been some elaborate reality television prank. But I’m here, and I’m usually glad for it. I have finally set up home in Dowa, which is about 8km away from the Dzaleka Refugee camp where I work as an academic tutor for the refugees taking part in an online university diploma program. When asked whether Dowa (pronounced with drawn out syllables as dough-uh) is a village or a city, you will get all kinds of answers. A better way to imagine it is to think of it as an area, with mini villages and neighborhoods throughout. The Gloucester of Malawi.

I’ve tried to break down my daily schedule here to give a sense what a day in my life is like.

People are awake and doing things around 4 am, and are taken aback when their desire to talk to me at 5:30-6:00 clashes with my indulgent desire to sleep into 6:30. Oh the idle pleasures of the mzungu (white person). When i do get out of bed, i stumble about, trying to avoid the bugs on my floor, taking the various medications necessary for this exotic adventure, and trying to remember how I got here. Oh, I use a currently unplugged refrigerator as a cupboard. It’s really handy, as otherwise my things get filled with salamanders (true story), although I am trying not to get too attached, as there will likely come a day when my roommates have something they want to keep cold.

Transportation is neither particularly safe nor reliable, so I try to walk to camp every day. According to my roommate Chloe’s pedometer, the walk is over 8km and takes us about an hour and a half, as it is mostly hills and not much pavement. Cute goats though. Along the way, children scream and squeal, overwhelmed at the hilarious sight of the mzungus. Some ask for money, but most are just tickled to get to look at me and my alien self.

Work usually starts around 8:30. The work is not easy, but can be very satisfying. My supervisor has allowed that I have more control over the structure of my day. This is a much more flexible environment than I am used to in Canada and I still am having trouble adjusting. Typically my work involves sitting down with the students individually and going over their assignments/forum posts for their current course (appropriately) Intercultural Communication. I am working the second year university students, so they are very independent and rarely ask for my help. Regardless, I try to gently insert myself in as minimally annoying way as is possible. Jokes are involved (issues with cross-cultural senses of humor decrease daily).

It can sometimes be difficult to establish myself as a figure of semi-authority and respect, so that the students want my help. The refugee students are mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC or, affectionately, Dr Congo), with a few from Burundi and Rwanda. In the camp there are also refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia, but none who’ve been accepted into the JRS HEM (Jesuit Refugee Service Higher Educations at the Margins) program. Anyways, as the students have told me (both in conversation and in reading their papers on identity), women in Africa typically take a subordinate role to men, so it is different from them to be looking to myself and my female colleagues for advice.

After a casual lunch in our preferred ‘restaurant’ in camp, where the girls eat beans and ‘chapatti’ and I scarf the African version of doughnuts (sometimes called a fritter or mandazi) and chai (to soften the occasionally tough treat), there is a shorter afternoon session. Usually the internet stalls up from its not-so-speedy-but-very-manageable- morning version to a version that is mostly unusable. The students and I are still very lucky to have daily access to this internet, which is powered by an advanced solar power system on top of the building.

I am finished around 4:30 every day. Sometimes I can grab a minibus right home, which is ideal. Other times I wait for over an hour, pacing and worrying about the consequences of being outside after
dark. Rations for the refugees have been delayed a week, so I am surrounded by starving people. Usually I feel pretty safe, but I have had some…tense encounters with some people who view me as a rich person who is deliberately choosing not to help them. I can empathize, despite having no real concept of the kind of desperation that would accompany hunger. This, and other issues of meeting basic human needs within the camp, causes me a great deal of internal conflict. I want to be helping, am trying to help, yet here I am, providing education, while people starve and their homes collapse in the rains. It makes it difficult to feel like I am helping at all. Anyways, I am trying not to be a defeatist. The camp is incredibly developed in comparison with many refugee camps worldwide and most people are glad to have the support of JRS. I cannot curse my metaphorical candle for providing insufficient light, lest I allow darkness to win. Maybe.

Ideally, I am home for no later than 5:30, as it gets dark by about 6:30. We’ve all been strongly advised against being outside after dark meaning, as yet, I do not even know what Malawi looks like after 7. I’ll have some night escapes in the future but, for the time being, I am so exhausted after work I really have no desire to go anywhere. What I look forward to after work is trying to wash the grime off my body (for 2 minutes I am clean and then the cycle restarts). I have limited clothing so am usually caught trying
weigh the benefits of feeling clean and comfortable for the evening against using up all my clothes and having to do more laundry. Other than my ‘delicates’, I am able to have my laundry washed by hand by the niece of the woman I live with for about 2 dollars. Having a non-family member look after my chores feels very strange to me. I become extremely self-conscious of my ‘white privilege’, even when having different people to look after different chores is very common in African Culture. It’s one of a few typical ways for the younger members in a family to earn money (like an allowance). Still…

With an hour and a half before dinner at 7:00, I usually do mini-chores, sit down, and try to decompress. My audio novels on my laptop brought me a considerable amount of pleasure for the first few weeks I was here. However, they have expired from the library, as they only have a 2 week limit. I intend to try a mission to make Ottawa’s public library accommodate me here in Malawi. Mission Not Entirely Improbable.

For dinner, the host family is really trying to accommodate us, even creating what they call “irish potatoes” (mashed) and “spahghett) (spaghetti) to go with our various pieces of goat and cow. There is always a vegetable component (called relish regardless of what vegetable is used), but I have learned this does not sit well with my stomach. There goes my green consumption. I really appreciate the effort, even if my craving for the abundant food selections of home sometimes leaves me in a bittersweet reverie. Being a ‘foodie’ is both a privilege and a curse. Every meal has a starch (usually rice as they know we prefer it to nsima), some protein (meat or eggs), and the greens. The other interns and I usually have a stash of a seasonal fruit in the back for later; I regret that mango season is coming to a close.

After dinner, around 7:30-8:00, I usually speak on the phone (most often mother). It helps me center myself and reconnect to home. Apparently Canada is still cold in my absence. Well, I’ll be…

Somewhere thereafter (8:00-8:30) I try to prepare for the next day. Clothes, bag, snacks. More pills, and then a mad dash into bed. On a good day, there will only have been a minor power outage. On a less
good day, I will have been relying on my flashlight and glowbugs to orient myself. Note to future interns, I scoffed at the suggestions of a head lamp, but it would be really useful. Stay tuned for an upcoming list I will make of all the essential things to pack for Malawi. Anyways, flashlight on, I turn off the lights and go to bed, hoping rain will come during the night and keep the otherwise…chatty? boisterous…dogs quiet, but not enough that I will have to tread an unbearably muddy path the next day.

Being here, I want to be better than I am. I try to be present, but I get caught up, planning the future. Hoping. Wishing. Dreaming. It’s a challenge of self, so hopefully I like what I find out.

C’est une première pour moi dans ce blogue ! Namaste, je m’appelle Sara, je me trouve présentement en Inde, précisément à Udaipur dans l’État du Rajasthan. Je poursuis un stage organisé par la faculté des sciences sociales de l’Université d’Ottawa (Canada) avec l’organisme Seva Mandir ( très connu ici à Udaipur). Ce stage est sous l’égide de l’Organisation non gouvernementale Jeunesse Canada Monde.

Cet immense pays présente sans aucun doute des traits très encouragent de progrès de développement surtout concernant la science et la technologie.  Également, ce pays représente une société de culture intéressante à étudier et à explorer non seulement en rapport aux différentes religions pratiquées, mais aussi concernant les nombreuses traditions à travers le pays. Il faut aussi mentionner l’importance du taux démographique qui représente néanmoins une énergie humaine.

Après près de 4 semaines en Inde, le choc culturel disparaît tranquillement et une routine s’est installée après avoir pris connaissance de mon mandat auprès de l’organisme. En fait, je travaille pour le département de la santé, où il nous est confié de collecter l’information concernant l’enregistrement des enfants nés depuis la dernière année auprès du gouvernement. (Universal birth registration) C’est une épreuve assez intéressante puisqu’il s’agit de promouvoir, de défendre et concrétiser le droit des enfants. En effet, comme nous le savons, dès la naissance chaque personne a le droit d’avoir une identité, car c’est l’affirmation de son existence au sein d’une société. C’est aussi la reconnaissance de son individualité et de ce qui la différencie de ses prochains. L’Inde étant le deuxième pays le plus peuplé au monde fait face à une situation de pauvreté alarmante qui touche principalement les enfants. En se cens, le développement des enfants demeure un sujet de préoccupation, et pour ce faire nous devions de prime abord apporter une attention particulière à leur identité et nationalité pour que ces derniers puissent bénéficier de leurs droits.

Puis, ce pays déplore l’un des plus hauts taux de non-enregistrement d’enfants dans le monde et cela varie considérablement entre les milieux urbains et ruraux.

Étudiante en conflits et droits humains, ce projet m’inspire profondément et attire ma curiosité !!!

Pour tout dire, ce stage est une excellente expérience d’apprentissage qui me permettra d’approfondir des connaissances et éventuellement de préparer une carrière professionnelle riche et productive

Hi! My name is Kristina, and I am a fourth year student in International Studies and Modern Languages, Régime d’immersion. I found out about the International Internship Program in my first year of university at the President’s Brunch during U101 week, and haven’t looked back since!

During first and second year, I went to the information sessions about the program, and spoke to the coordinators many times about how the internship would fit into my course of studies. Finally, it was time to apply!

The internship program appealed to me because it is cost effective, and you gain real work experience at a NGO in the international field. Perhaps the hardest part is deciding where you want to go and what you want to do!

It is hard for me to pinpoint the specific time in my life I started wanting to go to India, but for quite some time now, I had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to go. I wanted to see the many faces of India, and savour all of the sights, sounds, and of course, tastes!

Now all of this planning has finally become a reality! I am living in a neighborhood just twenty minutes south west of Delhi, in a boarding house with seventeen other Indian students and professionals. I walk to work in the morning, and am just getting started on some major language projects there.

This is the first trip that I have taken where I have been so aware of myself, and the impact I make in society. During our pre-departure training in Canada, we oriented ourselves by talking about our privilege, and how we would face some ethical problems during our internships. Although this second fact has proven true, it has been great to keep in contact with the other interns and of course, the coordinators for discussion. I think every trip you make should have this type of preparation. I have learned so much about myself, both positive and negative, and I am only three weeks in!

I was fortunate enough to be invited on a three-day field visit, whose purpose is to visit beneficiary groups to gain an understanding of the challenges they face and to evaluate where resources would best be allocated in the future. Visiting the field requires one to be open to different circumstances that are presented from the beneficiary groups. Also, it requires one to understand the existing policies and how their designs are actually limiting its intended beneficiary groups. Field visits require a lot of patience and focus as I required thorough translation throughout the meeting from Nepalese into English. I found it quite interesting to brainstorm on the spot, ask questions, and collaborate on ideas with my colleagues. This helped me to gain perspective on some of the real key challenges at the implementation level. It made me question what development funding is trying to achieve and how it is designed to achieve its goals. Perhaps the development industry needs to ask itself what it is really trying to achieve and how can it be flexible to really make that happen. This experience has offered me the realization that we must continue to question the professional knowledge that we have gained and go about improving on it. We must really look at the challenges and failures that beneficiaries feel they face and how we can innovate and collaborate our ideas to best suit their needs.

My time in Nepal has been an exciting adventure as I heavily immersed myself in the day-to-day social and workplace culture. Although, I felt like I had experienced limitations in the workload I could produce in three months, I try to look at my experiences from an optimistic perspective. I truly hope one day I can return to Nepal and go deeper into the Nepalese culture helping them transform in whatever way the local beneficiaries see best.

In preparation for my three-month internship, I engaged in immersing myself in reading materials about the geography, history and culture of Nepal. Over the past three months I have been placed in the position of a documentation intern for the organization called Federation of Community Forest Users, Nepal (FECOFUN). FECOFUN is a national federation and social movement organization that develops mechanisms of success for community forest user groups. They work heavily with advocacy issues that help to protect and promote forest user rights, in addition to improving the management, utilization, and protection of community forests. My assigned task was to prepare promotional materials to be distributed at both national and international events in efforts to attract investment from international donors. In successfully completing my mandate I was able to work closely with my partner organization and become more aware of the working realities and challenges development faces in the cultural context of Nepal.

In addition to working with my partner organization, I had the opportunity to participate in Cecil’s Annual General Meeting. The whole staff retreated to a small town overlooking the whole range of the Himalayan Mountains. In this beautiful setting, we had the opportunity to share our knowledge about CECIs programming over the course of two days. The focused theme for 2011 is gender and social inclusion. As a result, we learned how programming was designed and implemented to evoke progress in gender issues at the national and grassroots level. Being together as a group allowed us to team build and engage in conversations that we may not have had a lot of time for in the office. Finally, everyone engaged in a culture show where local Nepalese shared culture from Nepal and Canadians presented some of their own Canadian culture. Both listening and participating in the events was a wonderful experience.

I am writing this from Nairobi’s JKAI Airport where I first touched down on African soil some three months ago. It’s incredible to think of the personal and professional changes I’ve undergone as a result of the internship, and how much my education has both hindered and enhanced my experience and understanding thereof.

In my first internship blog, written for World University Service of Canada’s (WUSC) Students Without Borders (SWB) blog site, I was extremely cautious of what in feminist/gender studies is called ‘the white wo/man’s burden’. The concept comes from the colonial belief that it is the “white” or “Western” world’s responsibility to “rescue” the third world, as they are deemed “incapable” of self determination. Specifically I said: “In the course of my engagement with Women’s Studies the issue of “the white wo/man’s burden” was a recurring source of debate and disagreement. As such, I am particularly concerned with how my work within Malawi will be perceived by those that I work for and with, as my intention is not to impose the structures and beliefs of the Western world, but rather to learn from and work with the local strategies and structures for progress. However, I think my hyper-awareness of this issue will allow me to approach every situation with increased sensitivity and an openness that will hopefully be transparent.”

Interestingly, I found myself in a number of situations where I was either explicitly or implicitly expected to be an expert and I can only assume this was based on my ethnicity. In addition, I was often asked to critique Malawian culture from the basis of Western culture, and determine which is “better.” I found myself always prefacing any observations with an explanation that Western culture has many downfalls, is no where near perfect, etc etc etc. In essence, I was trying to highlight the fact that there are things that can be mutually learned, but also apologizing for my advantage having experienced both cultures.

In talking with one (Malawian) colleague in particular who has lived almost equal halves of her life in Malawi and the United States, I came to realize the damage of speaking on behalf of any particular nation, culture, ethnicity, etc. Though my notion of human rights has certainly been influenced by societal and cultural influences, the reality is that these have only sparked an awareness, while my own beliefs and world views have been formulated by my understanding of and reflection on my own humanity. By prefacing any discussion with talk of my culture or society, I set the stage for a discussion of comparison which can be easily dismissed as North vs South whereas a discussion based on our understandings and assumptions of humanity is more organic, more relatable, and therefore more productive. Acknowledging my advantage or privilege, while well intentioned, essentially exacerbated any preexisting distance between us.

So what has this experience taught me? Though there is definitely great benefit to being aware of social structures and applying theories to interpret, analyze, and understand the lived experiences withing different cultures, gender groupings, etc., it is extremely important to also bring it back from the academic to the real world. In truth, my relative privileges still bother me to some extent, but I think the greatest lesson I have learned is that my world view is grounded in my humanity, and when I speak from my experience of humanity rather than my experience of any particular culture, the room for discussion and positive change grows.

In the same blog mentioned earlier, I also identified a desire to learn more about gendered approaches to and effects of HIV / AIDS as well as a desire to contribute to the resource mobilization of my organization (COWLHA). Having now wrapped up all of my projects, I am amazed at the amount of things I was able to accomplish in three months, and how many new skills I have acquired. My major project was to develop a resource mobilization report for COWLHA – an area in which I had no prior experience, but can now confidently and informatively discuss. As a by-product of my internship I also learned internal and external forces and structures within the NGO world, the process of acquiring funding and implementing programmes, and even how programmes translate from paper to the field. Overall, an incredible experience which definitely cannot be learned in the classroom!

During our pre-departure training, our professor showed us a TED talk by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie called “The Danger of a Single Story.” She talked about how people too frequently have a single story, or a single preconceived idea, of places and people. These single stories, often based on what we see in the media, lead to stereotypes and generalisations about populations and places. She talked about how, for example, when she had written her first novel, her professor told her that it was not authentically African–an ironic statement given that her professor was American. Her professor, she explained, had a single story about Africa and Chimamanda’s novel did not fit into his preconceived image of Africa. In his eyes, therefore, her novel and her depiction of Africa and Africans were not authentic.
I was reminded of this TED talk a couple weeks ago when I was having lunch with some friends in Udaipur. We began conversing with a man sitting at the table next to us who was in India completing a photography project he had started years ago. The man was an experienced traveller who had visited many parts of India many times and felt it necessary to tell us which places were worth visiting and which were not. He felt that Indians from the bigger cities like Delhi and Jaipur were too “western” and told us instead that if we were looking for an authentic Indian experience we were to visit Jaisalmer, a town in the Rajasthan desert, where people live just as they used to. Tradition and difference, to him, I suppose equated authenticity. What I would really like to know is what makes someone or something “authentically” Indian. Why, for example, is an Indian village more authentic than an Indian city? Is it simply because, in many villages, the way of life has changed little and at a slow pace? Is it because Indian cities are too similar to North American cities? I think perhaps he had a single story of what India should be, one that romanticised tradition and village life. Like Chimamanda said in her talk, the existence of a single story leads us to focus on the differences between people rather than the similarities. Tourists and travelers are fascinated by difference. In fact I think a lot of travelers have single sories of their destination countries and when what they find does not correspond to their preconceived images and ideas or is too similar to their own countries, they dismiss it as unauthentic. Yet neither India nor any other country is small and homogeneous enough to fit into a single story.
I am of the belief that everywhere in India is authentically Indian. Moreover, I do not believe that tourists and travelers are capable of judging authenticity, especially when we really only see or experience the tip of the cultural iceberg–the overt pieces such as certain behaviours and practices. Food, dance, music, and language, for example, are all observable or tangible. But what about the underlying, covert pieces of the iceberg? Attitudes, values, beliefs, feelings, myths and perceptions are all things that cannot be observed, let alone understood, by foreigners. And it is these unobservable pieces that comprise the largest part of any culture. So how then, as foreigners, can we determine what is “authentic” and what is not? Well… we can’t. Whenever we go abroad, we carry with us certain expectations, assumptions and preconceived ideas and images of our destination country, but at the end of the day, we have to accept that there will be things we like and some that we do not, there will be things that meet our expectations and some that do not. Most importantly, we, as foreigners, have no place dismissing something as unauthentic when it is not the way we thought it would be, or think it should be. We have to accept that there is always more than a single story and that there are similarities between people and places, no matter where in the world we travel; we should embrace these other stories and embrace not only difference between people and places but also the numerous similarities.

In the end I went to Delhi instead of Jaisalmer but I think my experience in India was “authentic” nonetheless. And after 3 months, I definitely have more than a single story of India.

I didn’t go to Ghana thinking I would change things or people. I came in hopes of being helpful and useful and most of all to learn. Being realistic and in order not to be disappointed I told myself that even if I didn’t feel as helpful as I wanted to be, the overall experience would be enough. It would be enough because I would learn more about myself and the world. In the past my travels have been shorter. I came to Ghana to see if working abroad is something I can do, something I can get used to, something I enjoy. I came to see if I could adapt to a culture without always thinking about home, without feeling like something was missing. The last twelve weeks have been some of the most self-exploring and best weeks of my life. Looking back I realize that i’ve learned valuable lessons at my work place, with my host family and my social life in general.

My internship was like a roller-coaster, slow in the beginning then more and more exciting. I had to learn to notice and appreciate the small victories. During my work at the Legal Centre I was proud and inspired by every woman that had the courage to walk through the doors. There is a lot of stigma in the Ghanian society, people expect you to solve and keep problems within the family, this sometimes means not getting help and living with your situation. Every woman that walked in to change their situation is a hero. It takes a lot of courage to go against social norms and stand up for yourself and your children. My hat goes off to all of them! I was fortunate to meet amazing and inspiring people at the Shelter for abused women and children. I managed to develop great friendships with some of my co-workers. The Ark foundation is now taking part in the 16 days of activism, a global movement instituted 21 years ago to build awareness about gender based violence and facilitate networking among all countries and women leaders working in this area. This year, the local theme for this movement is “Peace in the world begins from the home. Let us end gender based violence now.”

In twelve weeks I have managed to see all extremities of Ghana. From the first weekend in Cape coast where we got to visit Elmina castle, one of the oldest European buildings in the Sahara, to Keta Lagoon near the Togo border where I met a family friend from Benin. That weekend was filled with late nights watching the stars on the beach and conversations about my friends work reforming prisons in Congo. The next destination was Hohoe in the Eastern region where we hiked up a mountain for two hours to see the top of the water falls, where we also got stuck in pouring rain on the way down. This is also where we got to see over 2000 bats flying over the lower falls which was absolutely beautiful. Next was an educational and eye opening trip to the north planned by AFS Ghana where we got to meet a chief and visit his compound. Finally, I spent the last weekend in Elizabe where i got lost and found one of the most beautiful beaches i have ever seen.

My host family welcomed me with open arms, I am so grateful have met such good people. I will miss cooking supper and talking with my host mother, the late night conversations with my host brother and our movie nights, the girl talks with my host sister and finally my morning breakfast and prayer with my host dad. We shared many laughs, they truly made me feel at home.

Over all the last twelve weeks were full of adventures. I have learned that I can adapt to a new setting and that working abroad is something I’d like to look into. I look forward to new beginnings.

We were told that our internship would go by quickly, but as my impeding departure from Cape Town nears, I still cannot help but be astonished by the speed of time when you love what you do. My stay in South Africa has had its share of downs, but has been surpassed by a positive overall experience. Some of the downs included a few complications with the organization I were initially supposed to be settled and the other pertains to an unshakable cold and flu bundled into one that stuck with me for the first 3 weeks of my stay. Nonetheless, both these adverse events were rectifiable and actually served to teach me valuable lessons about traveling. The positives, on the other hand, were endless. I was lucky enough (as I hope everyone was on their internship) to dive into a culture -or several cultures here in Cape Town- of rich history and an ongoing push for development and equality. I was fortunate enough to be invited into the personal lives of the people I worked with and became friends with, where stories of struggle and revolution were intimately shared with the foreign canadian intern, as if the oceans never separated the two countries and we had all been long-time friends. The people of South Africa have a way to make foreigners feel at home, despite the lingering struggles of apartheid, where racial disparity was the primary motivator for inequality.

This has brought me to wonder about the changes that will occur in my own character when I return to Canada. Here, I am different things to different people: a vacationer, a tourist, perhaps a student on an exchange programs. I am also often told to enjoy the rest of my “holiday in South Africa”. I don’t give off the appearance of an intern at first impression. Perhaps the color of my skin and my accent play a role in these natural preconceptions. Nonetheless, tourists and the like get treated with kindness, patience and generosity here. And that’s what I’ve been the recipient of for the last 3 months; overwhelming acceptance and charity. I had a lot to learn when I arrived, and it seemed everyone around me knew that and were willing to teach me everything I needed to know, to bring me everywhere I needed to go, to accommodate me anyway possible. When I settle in my canadian routine, who will I be then? I will shift from being the outsider, from the one that requires assistance, to one that knows the region and history like the back of her hand. After an undeniably fulfilling stay in Cape Town, I believe that it will be my duty to become an ambassador for the forthcoming international tourists, vacationers, exchange students and international interns who visit Canada. I will play the role, here in Canada, of those who have so warmly welcomed me into their country and their homes in South Africa.

In addition, I was required to conduct research on the rights of children with a focus on early childhood development. This topic was never one to interest me back in my home country, and therefore was somewhat challenging to execute. However, the challenge was the best part. I have opened my mind to a research topic I never explored before and had to subsequently write a position paper about. This was done with a South African NGO -the South African Council of Churches - within the context of an international internship. Although the work required of me during my internship was not related to international development per say, it has served to shed light on new opportunities, it has served to interest me in issues I’ve never considered before and may choose to pursue in the future.

These are only a few examples of the transitions I can see happening upon my return to Canada. Overall, the experience of an internship abroad has helped the theoretical aspects of my studies to become the practical and has helped my personal experience of my undergraduate program to become a more concrete one. My experience with my organization and especially the people I’ve met through my work, my family and friends have helped me create an image of a more interlaced world, a large planet appearing smaller now, where people can relate to each other through their differences.