From NJ to Morocco: A Virtual Global Experience
By: Chandni Shah, CAS ’22
Chandni Shah by the LOVE statue on Locust Walk.
Association My Child with Special Needs – Rabat, Morocco
This past year, the COVID-19 pandemic took away opportunities, stability, and completely dismantled plans of students all around the world. For me, many of the experiences I was looking forward to were gone, and I was left at a loss as to figuring out what my next step should be. However, the one experience that I am grateful to have and am really looking forward to is my virtual internship abroad.
Global experience and learning is at the heart of how I approach and hope to continue to approach my future career and aspirations. I believe that being open to new insights and perspectives from all across the world is important in order to find all-encompassing, effective solutions to global humanitarian crises. In fact, this was clearly evident this past year with the pandemic that shook the world. It took the efforts of people from every part of the world to help tackle this crisis and come up with safe and effective solutions to lead the world back to a more “normal” state.
My first couple of weeks in my virtual internship abroad has been nothing short of excitement, learning, and cultural immersion. I am so fortunate to have been given the opportunity to intern at Association My Child with Special Needs based in Rabat, Morocco. My Child with Special Needs is an organization whose mission is to “improve the quality of life of people with autism and their families.” My Child with Special Needs strives to find solutions that will defend the rights of people with autism by implementing innovative practices in the medico-social support of children.
Being a neuroscience major and having experience researching in the field of autism, I look forward to using the skills and knowledge I have gained to help work on a project, in which the focus is to develop an online database for the organization. The database’s purpose is to serve as a comprehensive source that provides the number of cases of autism in Morocco. As of now, there is no such database available for the organization, which is necessary to develop targeted programs and practices for children with autism. In addition, this online database will be easily accessible to parents and will be a general guide to help them determine if their child is autistic or not. It will include questions that experts use, which parents will be able to answer based on their observations or small quizzes they complete with their child. Of course, there will be a follow-up with a physician to confirm the diagnosis, but this essentially will provide parents with resources to help their children navigate a world that oftentimes is not on their side.
I am truly passionate about the project I am working on and am honored to be working with this organization, which provides access to a fulfilling education in mainstream schools for children with autism, a right for all children.
The Virtual Internships Abroad (VIA) program provides self-directed and motivated Penn undergraduate students the opportunity to gain a fully funded professional work experience over the summer with a global employer, with the added convenience of working remotely.