My South Africa adventure has started with my visa application. After a challenging visa application and interview process to get in South Africa, my passport was back to me with the visa after two weeks of painful waiting. Right after a long flight, I landed and straight went to the office. On the way to the office, I was very excited because it was my … Continue reading My IEDP journey in South Africa
Reflections from the first month in South Africa! Hello again! I’ve been in Jo’burg for about a month now, and the time has truly flown by! I’m working in the Research and Development Unit at the organization I’m interning with, but my supervisor was very clear about wanting to provide me with opportunities to do a “little bit of everything”, and she has definitely stayed … Continue reading Language, Literacy, and Lots of Learning
How would you run an education system in a country with 11 official languages? Talking about language policy in South Africa can quickly turn into a spirited discussion, with some arguing that the current system never fully cast-off is racist apartheid policies, others arguing that English should be the only language used and still more arguing that the current system is the best. To understand … Continue reading The Power of Languages
A little more than a month into my internship, and I now have a better idea of the ins and outs of the organization and how it functions. While work was slower during the month of Ramadan, things are slowly picking up post Eid, with all 15 people in the office each day. My first order of business had been aligning the literacy material developed … Continue reading Whose curriculum is it anyway?
Sawubona (Hello in Zulu)! I landed in Johannesburg for my internship almost 3 weeks ago, after 32 hours of traveling. My supervisor had said she would send the organization driver to pick me up from the airport. After almost two hours of waiting for a man with my name on a sign, unsuccessfully trying to get a hold of my supervisor with spotty airport wifi, and … Continue reading Sawubona from South Africa!
I’m not sure what I was expecting from the cheapest AirBnB listing in Lilongwe. You’d think that a place called ‘The All Creatures Animal Welfare Trust: Veterinary Clinic and Kennel’ would need no further description. Still, I hadn’t started a housing search in the weeks prior to departing for Malawi and I needed a quick roof over my head while looking for a more permanent … Continue reading From the Doghouse to the Warehouse: First Weeks in Lilongwe
Sand-swept streets, evening prayers and giant mangoes. Welcome to Dakar. — After nearly thirty hours of continuous travel and no sleep, I finally arrived at the newly constructed Blaise Diagne International Airport on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal. Shaking off the looming exhaustion, I quickly set to work, passing through border customs, exchanging my USD for West African CFA, notifying the airport personnel of my … Continue reading “Tropicalization” : Adapting to Life in Dakar
Phnom Penh is one of those cities that, like my old-time colleague once wrote about my own city of Kathmandu, sticks to your skin. You come home with it. You carry it under your nails, in your nostrils and in the pores of your skin. If you know what I am talking about, hello friend, yes, this city is like the home you and I know. Continue reading Phnom Penh is sure to stick with me
Reflections on the First Few Weeks of my Internship at UNICEF Peru It’s hard to believe that today marks the beginning of the fourth week of my chamba (or work, as many Peruvians refer to it) at UNICEF in Lima. Before I describe the specifics of my internship responsibilities, let me tell you about some of the qualities that make this office a truly unique … Continue reading Comenzando la Chamba:
Pack, unpack, meet new people, make friends, discover new places and start over again. Although, I have been living abroad since I was 19, I am still not the best with transitions. So, before coming to Germany I was very anxious about how this new experience would be. However, when I got into my Airbnb, the first thing that I saw in my room was … Continue reading Life in Deutschland
