GRIP, Internships Abroad A Fulfilling Day of Work

Manna Project International, Ecuador

As a graduate intern at MPI in Ecuador, I wanted to work on projects that would enhance my professional capacity and appeal, while making an impact on the local community. For this reason, I was very excited to have been assigned to two important and related projects: conducting a needs assessment in the communities in which the organization already offers programmes; and conducting a mapping of vulnerable communities in rural areas that could benefit from the organisation’s programming.

As a part of this work, the project group is required to visit different areas in the community and interview a variety of stakeholders. One field visit that was very successful was to a parroquia (or parish) called Rumipamba. We had to travel 40 minutes by car to get there and, towards the end of the journey, traverse a cobbled road that was difficult to navigate by car. Along this route we saw only one bus stop, which we later learnt received buses only three to four times a day. We were surrounded by rolling hills and fields and saw more cows than people—which later made sense as we learnt that a principal economic activity in the community is milk production. As we walked through the main path leading us through the neighbourhood, we encountered different members of the community who provided us with useful information to inform our mapping project. We spoke to an elderly woman who was peeling some vegetables on her front porch. She told us about the needs of single mothers, children, and elderly people in the community. She repeatedly said that the government offers “nada” to the local community and that our organisation’s contribution could be well-received. We then met a local government representative, who was very generous with his time. He explained the structural issues the community faces with regard to education, health, and economic wellbeing. He also took us to the local school, which happened to be located across the street from his office. At the school, we spoke to the principal and a teacher, learning about the community’s general educational aspirations as well as the demographics of the student body. With these interviews under our belts, we proceeded to speak to a few more residents before realizing that we had lost connectivity and were unable to call ourselves a taxi to get home. In a fortuitous turn of events, we were kindly offered a ride right back to our office with the parents of one of the children we had seen at the school.

Overall, this is the field visit that I am most proud of: not only did our team of three learn a great deal about the needs of the community in Rumipamba, but we also put into practice the key skill of using Spanish effectively in a professional setting. This experience has motivated me to continue my journey of developing my Spanish and using it in productive ways. I hope that by the end of this experience, I will have reached full working proficiency, which is one of my key goals in reaching my aspirations to work internationally in the development sector.