To India I Go Again

Sunday September 29, 2013

After much delay, the day has finally arrived. I am headed to New Delhi, India to start the second half of my Master’s degree and my five month practicum. I’ll be working with the Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM), based in New Delhi. They have many different programs that they have but I will primarily focus on working with their HIV/AIDS program. 

The words “much delay” couldn’t be farther from the truth though. Originally I was supposed to leave for India at the end of August for six months. With life though, it seems like nothing always happens the way you want it to. Since international flight costs can skyrocket after a certain time, I chose to book my flight earlier rather than later and figured I would get my visa after my flight was definitely secured since I saw no issue with a visa taking more than a few weeks to obtain. But boy was I wrong! At the beginning of August, India changed the company that they were going to outsource their visa processing to. And with transitions come delays. With this came aggravation and a few breakdowns knowing that I would have to cancel and rebook my flight since I wouldn’t have my visa in time for my flight. After a few hundred dollars on top of my original flight cost, I finally got my visa and was able to book my flight again. This time though I’m only able to be there for five months rather than six due to the visa timeframe. 

I think I can now say that I have a better understanding of how to be patient and grateful for my family and friends that have been able to support me in so many different ways. If anything, this whole ordeal has prepared me for the busy and crazy life in India that awaits me! My practicum with SPYM sounds like an amazing opportunity and I know that all of this is worth it. 

As an intern with SPYM, I hope to be working with people living with HIV/AIDS, then participating and later organizing HIV awareness/prevention workshops in New Delhi and other areas in India where SPYM already works. I’m really excited to be getting out of the classroom and to be able to apply what I’ve learned during my first year of grad school into a real world setting. And what better setting than India???

Ever since I studied abroad in Mumbai in college and interned at an all-girls orphanage where some of the children had HIV/AIDS, I have been interested in how this health issue affects a culture and how a culture affects the health issue. With my social work and public health experiences and my interest in policies that advocate for this population, I believe that this practicum is right up my alley! With anything new, I have an idea of what I’ll be doing over the course of the next 5 months but really, I won’t have a real sense of my role and responsibilities until I get there. A few years ago, it would have driven me crazy not knowing every little detail of this new experience, but now it’s kind of fun not knowing and being surprised by the unknown. 

Well, I think that’s about it for now! I’m currently sitting at the airport and will be boarding for New Delhi in just a few short hours! 

Reflection on my internship so far

When I was doing my graduate school applications, something struck me. Throughout this entire time at my internship, I thought it was merely an internship. But when I had to reflect back on my various experiences for the essay that I had to write, I found that a lot of my thoughts went back on the orphanage and my internship there.

As someone who wants to work in the student affairs field, I will be working with students from all backgrounds and ways of life. Reading a book about the culture that they’re coming from will help, but actually experiencing their culture is something that will give me an added benefit. Even though many college students might not come from India to study in the U.S., having this experience in India and at the orphanage will help a great deal. Anywhere in the world where there is turmoil and conflict, people will always go to their families and loved ones for comfort and safety. At the orphanage, when a girl is sick or is crying, she knows that she has people around her all the time who love her and can comfort her. If a student has just started college, they might have some very difficult times ahead of them. If they’re able to find support and comfort through other students that they meet, then they will have a more enjoyable time at college. Helping students to create that sense of support and comfort is something that I plan to do in my career.

Right now, I might not know the full extent of how much this internship has changed my way of thinking or how much of a change it has made to my life. But as I begin to reflect back on this internship, I can see that it will definitely have changed me in more ways than one.