There is a video of me in first grade, giving a presentation to my class, telling everyone that I want to work for Doctors Without Borders. Three years ago, as I travelled from my home near Seattle, WA, to Tulane University in order to pursue Cell & Molecular Biology and International Development, this dream remained steadfast. My dream of being part of Doctors Without Borders was such a big part of who I was, that when I started becoming increasingly more engrossed in my International Development coursework, and less so in my pre-med Physics and Organic Chemistry– I never even stopped to consider that maybe I should pursue a career in International Development.
It wasn’t until I was studying in South Africa in the fall semester of 2016 that I decided to turn my career path on its head. You see, “studying” in South Africa was a loose term. We were only in school at the University of Cape Town for eight weeks before school was canceled, and protests, riots, and plenaries became my classroom for the remaining eight weeks. I learned more about structural violence during that time than I ever could have in my IDEV and pre-med mandated sociology classes. I decided that I did not need to work for Doctors Without Borders in order to alleviate pain in conflict-zones, but could work on issues at a societal and structural level.
So, I reluctantly admitted to myself that I was not on the path that I truly wanted, and I submitted my resume to the only refugee resettlement agency in New Orleans. I secured an internship at Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans (CCANO) Refugee Services after a Skype interview. I was terrified, knowing that this internship marked my official pursuit of a new dream, but I was excited to start. I have been interning at Refugee Services for the past four months, focusing on school integration programming for refugee youth.
My grant from Newcomb College Institute has allowed me the opportunity to maintain my internship in New Orleans throughout the summer, so that I am able to continue working on a School-Integration Program curriculum for Refugee Services. This internship has been such a great way for me to work on my program development skills and to learn more about problems faced by the international community, both abroad and locally. This summer, I intend to make community connections and establish points of contacts within the Orleans and Jefferson Parish school systems. Also, I wish to establish and implement a basic outline for the School Integration Programming that works in the New Orleans context and takes into account how gender, race, religion, language, and age intersect to form certain experiences in American schools.
I’m happy to say that I love my internship here at CCANO Refugee Services and am so unbelievably excited that my first step toward a future in International Development paid off in the form of an internship that I value and love.