Report

As I boarded my flight on that sunny summer morning, a bit of anxiety ran through me thinking about what the next three months may have in store for me.  I was excited because I had been rewarded with the WCP internship and I felt like there was no better place to go share myself and my knowledge than my home country, Nicaragua.  At first I was a bit disappointed that I would not be traveling somewhere new or exciting, but the more I thought about it, the better I felt at having the opportunity to return to my country ready for whatever. 

My first day on the job began on an interesting note.  The organization for which I interned was World Vision International, a global non-profit Christian Charity dedicated at helping the poor and less fortunate around the globe.  Every Monday, the workweek began with a prayer session and a devotional hour where one was free to speak of the scripture and one’s inner thoughts.  Coming from the United States, this was a bit odd considering that here some even take offense at the mere mention of God in the Pledge of Allegiance.  My co-workers were very affable and I was soon taken from office to office to meet them all.  I spent the first couple of days familiarizing myself with the rules and procedures and a bit with the project that I had been called on to help with.

I was assigned to help develop training modules for a three-year project aimed at helping rural communities develop emergency response procedures before and after natural disasters.  This was particularly important because these communities had suffered losses and damages during Hurricane Mitch in 1998.  The title of the project was Community Emergency Response and Disaster Mitigation (CERDM), and at my arrival was only in the preliminary stages of its three-year span.  The plan was an adaptation of something similar that had been developed by World Vision in neighboring Honduras, which had also suffered severe losses as a result of Mitch. 

The work was not difficult at all and at times I felt as if I was not being used to my utmost potential.  The most rewarding part of my experience was the trips we made out to the rural communities, informing them of the nature of our activities and if they would be willing to participate.  For each community we had to have twelve members assigned to different functional roles that they would assume should a natural phenomenon become a menace.  Unfortunately though I was only able to go to about four or six field visits, the rest of the time I was stuck in the office with literally nothing to do.

You see halfway through my internship, World Vision Managua’s office relocated to another location.  Between the move from one office to the other, about a month’s time was lost while we waited for equipment and the setup to be completed.  It was during this time that I grew frustrated with my assignment and began to help another department with their workload.  I unofficially worked for the Child Sponsorship office processing the correspondence between the children in Nicaragua and their international sponsors.  This was very rewarding and it helped me to see what a great organization World Vision is and continues to be.  All in all I felt that my experience was good, but not as good and productive as I hoped it would have been.

I am grateful to Coca-Cola and to the University of Florida. I feel that the empathy I experienced as I talked to people living miles and miles from civilization is something I will take with me for the rest of my life, and that it will guide me in always considering the welfare of the less fortunate.

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