The end is near

I have now been in India for 10 weeks. My internship will be over in less than 2 weeks and I feel like I’m running out of time! The last 10 weeks went by so fast that 2 weeks seems like no time at all and I have so much I want to do before I leave. Though I have to say, I am excited to go home to see my family and friends!

This experience has been a true learning experience; I have grown so much and I am not ready to stop this journey just yet. It has been hard, challenging and frustrating at time but at the end of day, I come out of this experience with amazing memories and a new perspective on life.

My work here mostly involved office work. I worked at editing the content of Chirag website to improve the structure of the text, update the content and photos and set up a new donation page. I also worked on a report on fundraising strategy and emitted recommendations. Thus, as part of my work I had to do research, interview people, write different articles, edit previous texts, etc. The skills I’ve learned while doing my work will be a great addition to my resume but this aspect of my internship is to me, secondary.

While I was here, I also had the incredible opportunity to live with a host family for 1 month. I got to live within the community, make friends, engage in conversation with villagers, make observations, learn a lot about their social structure, culture and religious beliefs and practices. They welcomed me as a member of the family and as our relationship grew stronger, they allowed me to take an active part in their daily activities, letting me help with certain chores, etc. They became my support system and even though communication was really hard, due to the language barrier, they managed to teach me so much in those short 4 weeks, it’s incredible. I like to think I’m going back home as a “better-version” of myself. I will carry this experience and the knowledge I’ve gain with me for the rest of my life.

This experience also gave me a better understanding of the region and permit me to deeply understand the relevance and importance of Chirag’s work with the community. I got to see first-hand some of the challenges the farmers face in their everyday life. All this gave me greater motivation to accomplish my work, which aims at improving the fundraising effort to bring in much needed donation. I hope my work will help Chirag in this goal and thus provide the families of the region with even better services and support.

I come out of this experience feeling extremely grateful, but also proud of myself for keeping an open-mind and for handling the challenges I had to face with a positive attitude.

The Author of this blog is a international volunteer working in India as a volunteer through iVolunteer’s International volunteer program