Hey guys!
I am so excited to be working for People Helping People Global this summer. Aside from a brief trip to Mexico to fulfill the quintessential college spring break experience, I have never traveled anywhere in Central America. The chance to work and live in Nicaragua for two months will be a new and adventurous opportunity for me!
A little about me… I am currently a junior at Claremont McKenna College studying International Relations with a focus in third world economic development. Coming originally from the east coast, I am absolutely loving the California lifestyle – it’s active, endlessly sunny, and teeming with cheery, happy people. My interest in working for PHPG is directly related to my academic concentration and my future career aspirations, both of which are manifested in past travel and work experience. I am fascinated by the so-called ‘culture of poverty’ that exists throughout the world and the seemingly unanswerable questions that often inhibit progress. As a result, traveling and experiencing new and diverse cultures has become one of my passions in life – and one of the ways in which I have attempted to gain insight into the mystery of perpetual poverty.
In addition to living and working in Fiji for a short period after 9th grade, I recently returned from spending a semester abroad in Madagascar where I gained first-hand experience living with local Malagasy people, some of whom live day-to-day off of less than the equivalent of $2 dollars per day. It was a crazy experience, to say the least, and one that taught me a lot about Malagasy culture, about personal relationships, and about life in general. In terms of development, my experiences have taught me that every situation in which poverty is a pertinent problem in any given community is caused by factors that are not consistent throughout the world: people are poor, become poor, and arise from poverty for different reasons. I have chosen to pursue this internship because I believe that grassroots microlending targeted at specific communities is the most efficient way of tackling the issue of poverty in the particular case of Nicaragua – and I would really like to be a part of that effort.
Thanks so much and I can’t wait for this summer – counting down the days!
All the best,
Emma
No comments:
Post a Comment