Report

Let me begin by thanking all the parties involved in giving life to the World Citizenship Program unreservedly.  In this case, the University of Florida, Air Serv International, and the Coca Cola Company all helped to make possible my summer internship in Mozambique.  My summer 2003 shall remain nostalgic.  

I arrived in Mozambique on May 17th to a very warm welcome by the Air Serv party.  I was looking forward to getting started on my journalism project for which my supervisor had allowed me freedom to be creative, using only a tentative guide.  I was to produce field reports, pen down human-interest stories, and spend as much time as I could observing the various aspects of the program in order for me to eventually help develop a staff communication guide.  All the limitations considered, I accomplished as much as I could, and came away extremely thankful to have been part of the program.

As a student of international communication, the trip to Mozambique provided me with the opportunity to put into perspective several theories I had developed over a one-year period of research out in the field.  In this case, and for my own academic benefit, I interacted with the international humanitarian and non-governmental agencies operating in Mozambique such as CARE International, Food for the Hungry International, World Vision, and the Christian Church Mission.  This was my attempt to understand the interactions between mission statements of humanitarian organizations and their manifestations in the field. 

Mozambique’s part in the world’s history book has not been sufficiently updated to suitably describe her post-war state.  The country is simply peaceful and upwardly motivated.  Save for occasional encounters with people who confess to having served in the military, little else of the fifteen-year period of civil war is socially manifested in Mozambique today.  But of course, all this is difficult for anyone to learn devoid of first-hand experience.  I got it, thanks to the Coca Cola World Citizenship Program, Air Serv International, and University of Florida.

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