Grassroots Onsite Work (GROW) Internship
Over the summer of 2015, I participated in a Global Health Internship with Social Action for Women (SAW), an NGO in Mae Sot, Thailand. SAW works with undocumented Burmese migrants who come to Thailand in order to make a better life for themselves but have access to little in their area.
How did I get paired up with this organization, you may be wondering? I am in an organization called GlobeMed at my university. GlobeMed is itself a national organization consisting of purely college students looking to make tangible change in their world. Each university is partnered with different NGOs from Asia, South America, and Africa. As part of this partnership, GlobeMed sends over between 4-6 interns from each chapter per year to their respective partners. These interns then bring back their knowledge so the chapter to get a better sense of why they are advocating and raising money for their partner. I was one of these Interns and also acted as the GROW Internship Coordinator, by the selection of the Co-Presidents for the chapter — this meant selecting the team of five, heading up the planning, and acting as the general liaison between the chapter and SAW while there. This was one of my first leadership experiences while at the University of Cincinnati.
The first part of my GROW Internship experience began the fall semester beforehand with the first big responsibiilty being the picking of the other Interns. I started out by brainstorming with the co-presidents the qualities that would be needed for the interns and the team. I held interviews and after careful consideration picked Nathaniel Bond, Sami Nandyal, Anthony Pantano, and Kathe Pocker. I had known Nate, Sami, and Kathe for a while at that point but had never really interacted with Anthony in any truly meaningful capacity. All these individuals were turned out to be amazingly dedicated individuals who worked hard and had a sense of purpose.
Throughout the semester we planned what we wanted to experience, when we wanted to go, etc. Through this whole process I acted as the head of the planning, which was quite interesting. All of the individuals with me on the internship were actually older than myself. Because of this, I had thought that there might be some backlash leading individuals older than myself. However, I think that through my demonstrated leadership I gained their respect and had no issues with age over the entire experience and during this whole planning stage we had zero issues. Come June, a month before the Internship was to begin, we had set the dates and places we would be going, and the experiences and things we wanted to learn from SAW.
However, things started to turn somewhat south for me in the weeks prior to leaving for the internship. A little backstory, I am planning on studying abroad in the UK for the fall semester and was going to be leaving for Europe four days after I arrived back from Thailand. For this experience, I had to obtain a Visa for the UK but the timeframe to apply for the Visa only began a month before I was to depart for Thailand. I applied as soon as I could and did everything to ensure I got my passport back as soon as was possible… two days before I was to leave for Thailand and I still did not have my passport. Because of this, I was forced to move my departure date for Thailand back one week meaning that the whole team would not be leaving together. I eagerly waited that week to get my passport and when halfway through the week I received a package in the mail with my passport, I became excited and eager to leave.
I arrive to Thailand July 28th and got into things full swing – right when I landed I met some of the members of SAW named Aung Tun Lin, Dr. Htin Hzaw, and Sue Yun Lin. Over the next few weeks I would be able to interact these three individuals, along with other members of SAW and watch both as they worked to help their community and as they lived their side lives. During our shadowing time with SAW, we observed many of the services they provide as a part of the Community Health Outreach Program (CHOP) including a Mobile Medical Clinic, Gender Based Violence Trainings, and several Health Education Workshops, amongst others. I found these experiences to be truly eye opening. Many of the topics that were covered during these workshops and services are things that you or I would assume to be common knowledge – the know how to brush our teeth, we know the importance of drinking clean water and eating nutritious food. These are not things that are imbedded in many of these refugee communities. What we believe to be common knowledge is not truly common in all societies. But luckily SAW is there to help out.
Another big lesson I took away from this experience dealt with the people I spent time with, namely Aung Tun Lin, nicknamed ATL: ATL is also an undocumented Burmese refugee who lives in Thailand. Like any other undocumented individual, if he got caught in Thailand without papers he would go to jail and then be deported back to this country. To me, this is a terrifying thought, one that I would likely do my best to avoid. This has already happened to ATL four times. He is twenty and has been to jail four times, yet he still returns to work to help his people. ATL and myself are the same age, yet the amount of hardships that he has had to face in life as compared to the hardships I have face… well there is no comparison. However, ATL is one of the happiest people I’ve ever met. He acts as a father figure in the refugee shelter he lives in, has an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and never stops smiling and laughing. Also did I mention, that come this year, he will be running one the Community Health Outreach portion of SAW. All this, at the age of twenty. ATL is truly an inspiration and his passion for what he does is very commendable. I would definitely say that I look up to ATL as somebody who has become so successful despite all the hardships that he had been placed through. Additionally, I think it’s worth noting that that story is not only one that applies to ATL but also to most of the individuals we met while we were with SAW.
Over the entire year that the internship lasted I think I learned a lot and benefited a great deal in regards to my cultural awareness and how difficult some people have it in the world. I know that this experience will make my time in GlobeMed more meaningful and will have an influence on what path in medicine that I do decide to take, whether it be within the American Medical system, or within communities such as these to provide services that individuals like those I met in Mae Sot need throughout the world.
Over the summer of 2015, I participated in a Global Health Internship with Social Action for Women (SAW), an NGO in Mae Sot, Thailand. SAW works with undocumented Burmese migrants who come to Thailand in order to make a better life for themselves but have access to little in their area.
How did I get paired up with this organization, you may be wondering? I am in an organization called GlobeMed at my university. GlobeMed is itself a national organization consisting of purely college students looking to make tangible change in their world. Each university is partnered with different NGOs from Asia, South America, and Africa. As part of this partnership, GlobeMed sends over between 4-6 interns from each chapter per year to their respective partners. These interns then bring back their knowledge so the chapter to get a better sense of why they are advocating and raising money for their partner. I was one of these Interns and also acted as the GROW Internship Coordinator, by the selection of the Co-Presidents for the chapter — this meant selecting the team of five, heading up the planning, and acting as the general liaison between the chapter and SAW while there. This was one of my first leadership experiences while at the University of Cincinnati.
The first part of my GROW Internship experience began the fall semester beforehand with the first big responsibiilty being the picking of the other Interns. I started out by brainstorming with the co-presidents the qualities that would be needed for the interns and the team. I held interviews and after careful consideration picked Nathaniel Bond, Sami Nandyal, Anthony Pantano, and Kathe Pocker. I had known Nate, Sami, and Kathe for a while at that point but had never really interacted with Anthony in any truly meaningful capacity. All these individuals were turned out to be amazingly dedicated individuals who worked hard and had a sense of purpose.
Throughout the semester we planned what we wanted to experience, when we wanted to go, etc. Through this whole process I acted as the head of the planning, which was quite interesting. All of the individuals with me on the internship were actually older than myself. Because of this, I had thought that there might be some backlash leading individuals older than myself. However, I think that through my demonstrated leadership I gained their respect and had no issues with age over the entire experience and during this whole planning stage we had zero issues. Come June, a month before the Internship was to begin, we had set the dates and places we would be going, and the experiences and things we wanted to learn from SAW.
However, things started to turn somewhat south for me in the weeks prior to leaving for the internship. A little backstory, I am planning on studying abroad in the UK for the fall semester and was going to be leaving for Europe four days after I arrived back from Thailand. For this experience, I had to obtain a Visa for the UK but the timeframe to apply for the Visa only began a month before I was to depart for Thailand. I applied as soon as I could and did everything to ensure I got my passport back as soon as was possible… two days before I was to leave for Thailand and I still did not have my passport. Because of this, I was forced to move my departure date for Thailand back one week meaning that the whole team would not be leaving together. I eagerly waited that week to get my passport and when halfway through the week I received a package in the mail with my passport, I became excited and eager to leave.
I arrive to Thailand July 28th and got into things full swing – right when I landed I met some of the members of SAW named Aung Tun Lin, Dr. Htin Hzaw, and Sue Yun Lin. Over the next few weeks I would be able to interact these three individuals, along with other members of SAW and watch both as they worked to help their community and as they lived their side lives. During our shadowing time with SAW, we observed many of the services they provide as a part of the Community Health Outreach Program (CHOP) including a Mobile Medical Clinic, Gender Based Violence Trainings, and several Health Education Workshops, amongst others. I found these experiences to be truly eye opening. Many of the topics that were covered during these workshops and services are things that you or I would assume to be common knowledge – the know how to brush our teeth, we know the importance of drinking clean water and eating nutritious food. These are not things that are imbedded in many of these refugee communities. What we believe to be common knowledge is not truly common in all societies. But luckily SAW is there to help out.
Another big lesson I took away from this experience dealt with the people I spent time with, namely Aung Tun Lin, nicknamed ATL: ATL is also an undocumented Burmese refugee who lives in Thailand. Like any other undocumented individual, if he got caught in Thailand without papers he would go to jail and then be deported back to this country. To me, this is a terrifying thought, one that I would likely do my best to avoid. This has already happened to ATL four times. He is twenty and has been to jail four times, yet he still returns to work to help his people. ATL and myself are the same age, yet the amount of hardships that he has had to face in life as compared to the hardships I have face… well there is no comparison. However, ATL is one of the happiest people I’ve ever met. He acts as a father figure in the refugee shelter he lives in, has an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and never stops smiling and laughing. Also did I mention, that come this year, he will be running one the Community Health Outreach portion of SAW. All this, at the age of twenty. ATL is truly an inspiration and his passion for what he does is very commendable. I would definitely say that I look up to ATL as somebody who has become so successful despite all the hardships that he had been placed through. Additionally, I think it’s worth noting that that story is not only one that applies to ATL but also to most of the individuals we met while we were with SAW.
Over the entire year that the internship lasted I think I learned a lot and benefited a great deal in regards to my cultural awareness and how difficult some people have it in the world. I know that this experience will make my time in GlobeMed more meaningful and will have an influence on what path in medicine that I do decide to take, whether it be within the American Medical system, or within communities such as these to provide services that individuals like those I met in Mae Sot need throughout the world.