Being an Intern in a developing country

5 reasons for being an volunteer/intern in the rainy season of Cambodia

evatheintern — Fri, 11 Aug 2017 11:00:00 GMT

I've been very satisfied with watching how L.E.A.F is trying to help Mondulkiri's forests and its inhabitants as well as continuously trying to change Cambodia's old traditional ways of looking at animal welfare and the importance of the eco-system. The organisation itself is not old and is growing wiser every day. I see the people I work with, in the administration, trying to teach themselves, e.g. languages, in order to of course get knowledge but absolutely also to provide better customer service in the future. People here are very passionated about their work, and that suits me perfectly, as I too, serious about my internship and the help I can bring the NGO. The volunteers I have met, are very informative to the customers and the ones who know little English, are constantly trying to learn the language. It's making me feel like, "I should probably start picking up some Khmer fast too! Otherwise it just does not seem fair, right?" I met a volunteer from the past, Cambodian Tom, who is now considering coming back after traveling. His English is perfect after some volunteering and traveling, wow! Progress, all over! But it's going slow, when the seasons sometimes decides whether the tourists come to visit or not. Moreover, we need more volunteers in this season and I can totally stand for doing it in the rainy season, here is why:

The province is truly Cambodian, and not overfilled with western culture.
You learn Khmer faster.
The rain is really soothing to me, (people from the North will like it, 100%).
As we do not earn money on volunteering, it's nice to have prices be lower, which they are

in this season (May – September).
Lovely and stunning nature! So peaceful in the hills, just lush and clean air.

There are many more things I could say, but I think I'll summon my thoughts for the next blog post on how it's going (;

Think outside the box, when choosing your internship

evatheintern — Wed, 9 Aug 2017 16:39:00 GMT

Personally, I think it's important to keep in mind always to use your skills as best as possible. As a marketing student, I have kept in mind, that when I was going to do my internship at some point, it should be in a place where I could make the best use of the learning I received during the course of my education. I did not want to be in a big company, which already had a lot of paid marketing staff. The risk that I would get minimum responsibility and influence, and most likely would not be able to personally develop very much, looked quite big to me. "Why should the company spend time on me, when they have people they pay to do the tasks your study requires you to do?"

In addition, I find it hard to make it financially possible if I should stay in Denmark or work in western countries. You have to live on the allowance you get from the government but work full time "free". I greatly appreciate the Danish system and it is great that we get some kind of salary to study, but personally I would have trouble making it work unless I had to work every weekend or at night. This thought prompted me to find places that lacked people with my specialty and where my allowance would reach far enough for me not to push myself for extra work.When I visited Cambodia for the second time last year and was a tourist at NGOs, I thought that they would be interested in getting educated Westerners in the administration. Or at least that they would not say "No thanks!". To volunteers with specific specialties. Most of all, I think it was a good idea to seek out the opportunity, so that I could (as you say) make a difference.I contacted the NGO I had trekking trips with. Their animal welfare and nature projects interested me in greatly and I think they looked morally correct.What I found really exciting when I came here was that although the NGO's does their best and constantly becomes more modern in its view of true animal welfare, there is still far to reach and many in the West would probably shake their heads once in a while , but things take time and I think it's the people who stay here and work with the organization, whom really makes a difference, compared to those who judge and move on after a few days.

It is definitely a good idea to take a internship or to be volunteers for longer periods of time, with smaller NGOs who could use help from countries such as Denmark who are not in the development phase but who have know-how. It may sound arrogant, but it's true that we got some knowledge we can pass on, and if you come with a neutral view, stop judging and do not look down on those who try, you will be able to help in a real way and get a fantastic stay out of it. I have been welcomed with open arms and they appreciate that I would use my skills with them. At the same time, I am very honored that they listen intensely to what I have to say, help me with everything i ask and are not thinking "here comes another who think she's better than us".

Jump into it! Be courageous and most of all, get an important experience for life!

Please write me directly through Facebook, if you are interested in joining us. Marketing intern at Mondulkiri Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary (http://mondulkirisanctuary.org) & Social media consultant at Find Job Abroad

Photos: Internship with Mondulkiri Elephant and Wildlife Sanctuary

evatheintern — Wed, 9 Aug 2017 16:31:00 GMT

Photos from the NGO as well as my own