My final week in Liberia was an utter whirlwind. My strategy was to pack every day with meetings and write up my reports once I returned to the States. Which meant every day I spent whizzing around town, fighting traffic, cramming in email time when I could, and trying in the cracks to hand off every part of my only begun work that I could. Plus, there were the people I wanted to make sure I saw one more time before I left, so I squeezed them into the lunches and dinners I'd have to eat anyway.
Suddenly it was Friday, and I found myself faced with intense emotions I didn't have my head above water enough to see coming.
While I'm sure many of my classmates are going through similar feelings, I can't help but wonder if the uniqueness of the Liberian internship opportunity, and especially mine, makes it even more intense. Two reasons in particular stand out.
Recall that what I wanted to get out of working for a goverment in a developing country was perspective. Making a significant contribution wasn't something I thought I would do, and there I was liasing with leadership across the ICT space. I had a strong belief in a policy need that I was doing my best to convince senior goverment leadership to get behind it. People were starting to come to me for my thoughts on things, asking if I knew more about initiatives, and I was the one connecting a lot of the dots. I can't imagine there are a lot of internships where you are able to interact with such high level officials while given real responsibilty and significant autonomy. It really seems pretty insane if you ask me. But man was it exhilarating.
Secondly, Liberia's unique because there are so many interns who go, and because the expat community is so small. This meant that we were able to immediately form a social network that I think interns rarely are able to do. Beyond that though, there are just some really great people in Monrovia, who I instantly connected with. You just know your people when you meet them.
So there I was finally working in development, what I'm truly passionate about; working autonomously on important initiatives, plugged in with senior government officials, and a surprising level of confidence in my understanding of the environment. And I had my people.
I truly cannot imagine a more incredible experience for a summer internship, both personally and professionally. No way.
Suddenly it was Friday, and I found myself faced with intense emotions I didn't have my head above water enough to see coming.
While I'm sure many of my classmates are going through similar feelings, I can't help but wonder if the uniqueness of the Liberian internship opportunity, and especially mine, makes it even more intense. Two reasons in particular stand out.
Recall that what I wanted to get out of working for a goverment in a developing country was perspective. Making a significant contribution wasn't something I thought I would do, and there I was liasing with leadership across the ICT space. I had a strong belief in a policy need that I was doing my best to convince senior goverment leadership to get behind it. People were starting to come to me for my thoughts on things, asking if I knew more about initiatives, and I was the one connecting a lot of the dots. I can't imagine there are a lot of internships where you are able to interact with such high level officials while given real responsibilty and significant autonomy. It really seems pretty insane if you ask me. But man was it exhilarating.
Secondly, Liberia's unique because there are so many interns who go, and because the expat community is so small. This meant that we were able to immediately form a social network that I think interns rarely are able to do. Beyond that though, there are just some really great people in Monrovia, who I instantly connected with. You just know your people when you meet them.
So there I was finally working in development, what I'm truly passionate about; working autonomously on important initiatives, plugged in with senior government officials, and a surprising level of confidence in my understanding of the environment. And I had my people.
I truly cannot imagine a more incredible experience for a summer internship, both personally and professionally. No way.
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