Impacting communities, changing oneself

38 students from the current grade 12 cohort spent a month during their summer vacation working at over 15 non-profits in India, Ghana, Bangladesh and Canada, some of which were AKDN (Aga Khan Development Network) agencies belonging to the group of partner organisations through which the Academy implements its summer service internship programme. These organisations work in education, rural development, women and child empowerment, disaster preparedness, youth training, agriculture and nutrition. The aim of these internships is to broaden the spectrum of experiences Academy students have, and to help them better understand social issues.

On Saturday 11^th August, the interns made presentations about their experiences to all the grade 11 students, Diploma faculty and department heads. They spoke about their work experiences as well as their day-to-day living conditions and the impact the internship had on them. They touched on facets of their month-long adventure, such as developing empathy towards various communities, learning a new skill-set, gaining experience of working in teams, and struggling with daily commutes.  

"My decision to travel to each of the placement organisations was linked to the stories I had heard from previous interns, and I wanted to get a first-hand idea of what their experiences," says Academy Internship Coordinator, Pratibha Thimmaraya. "One significant outcome that emerged during the visit was how there was a gradual progression from the desire to serve to understanding that they have actually been served because they came to learn more about themselves. Each milestone of the programme enabled the interns to reflect on their own strengths and guided them to a more positive outlook."

Prior to their internships, the students had attended a week-long orientation camp in early June conducted by Rubaroo, an organisation whose mission is to provide spaces for young adults to link their academic learning with realities around them. The camp, which took place at the Rural Development Trust in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, helped ease them into the conditions of their internships, so students were better prepared and could assimilate more seamlessly.

“From marketing in an urban handloom collective to farming in a small village, from working eight hours a day to surviving 24 hours without electricity, from travelling in the Mumbai local trains to walking five kilometres daily, we experienced each struggle and persisted,” writes Aleez Vasaya and Alishah Al-Kareem. “The notion of having a changed mindset and an entirely new personality is what all these interns came back with in their pockets on their ride home. A sense of uniqueness came out from each project, resulting in acquring a different point of view to look at given situations.”

Special guest at the internship presentations and certificate ceremony was RJ Shezzie from Radio Mirchi FM, who spoke to the audience about the collision between media and social change. The Academy’s university counselor, Pragati Pandey, told the Diploma students that their internships were not only a huge differentiator in their university applications, but would also contribute to the cultivation of skills sought by employers today – being socially conscious, empathetic, able to problem-solve, think independently and appreciate diversity.