Meet Saskia. She holds three nationalities – the U.S., France, and the Netherlands. She speaks both French and English fluently, and her immediate supervisors spend the majority of their time in Central Africa traversing the terrain, implementing early warning radio towers, and dropping defection flyers from planes.
Saskia is a member of our international programs team, which deals firsthand with all of our livelihood, protection, and rehabilitation programs on the ground in Uganda, DRC, and CAR. I recently sat down with her to talk more about her time at Invisible Children.
What does a typical day as an International Programs Intern look like?
On most days I’ll read new reports that come from Central and East Africa and from our various partners there. I then log them into our database so that they appear on the LRA Crisis Tracker. I also do translations of reports and work on our internal newsletter. It’s quite varied but I love it.
What’s one thing that you’ve learned at Invisible Children that you’ll carry with you after your internship is over?
You’re never too good to do something. You can always be asked to do something that you think may not be worth your time but everyone in this organization pulls their weight when it’s necessary and that’s what they ask from us as well. Even if you think that you can do better than that and maybe you can but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.
What sets your internship apart from others and what impact are you able to make in your specific role?
I feel that by working with Invisible Children I have a lot more responsibilities than I would have at an internship at the same level somewhere else. Speaking French is a huge advantage , at the moment 80% of the reports that I get are in French. So there is a lot of nuances that can be lost in translation if you’re not fluent in French. That can really change the meaning of the whole report. I think that’s a huge impact I feel that I’m able to make.
In one sentence, why do you love working for Invisible Children?
I love working for Invisible Children because we have an innovative and unconventional way of approaching foreign affairs.
What advice would you give a future intern?
Make the most of the staff here. They’re very receptive to you asking questions. Your time here goes really fast, faster than you can imagine and you should really make the most of talking to those people while you’re here.
What’s your favorite part about living in San Diego?
The weather. Absolutely. After living in London and Paris this is the flip side of the coin.
Invisible Children is all about community. What’s it like working and living with other interns?
This is my second semester with Invisible Children and one of the reasons I came back was for the community. I think it’s so awesome that we all live together because you get to know people on such a deeper level than if you were just working with them. It impacts your work in a positive way.
This is your second semester interning with Invisible Children. What were your reasons for coming back?
I knew that by coming back in this position I would be able to learn new things. Of course the community and the amazing people here led me back as well.
What’s been your favorite memory so far?
MOVE:DC. It was such a feat of amazing teamwork. The feeling of doing something so incredible and exhausting like that is something I’ll never forget.
Good news. We’re looking for an inspiring individual like Saskia to join us as our International Programs Intern. If you speak fluent French and would like to learn more about how you can be a part of the team this summer, you can find a full job description and application on our website. The deadline to apply is March 15th.
(Photo credit: James Um)
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