Internship with an NGO in Ethiopia: A Transformative Experience

By Sara Cornish

Vendors selling goods at a street market in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia.

Introduction to the Internship Program in Addis Adaba

Leftovers from Christmas dinner were still in the fridge at my home in Philadelphia when I arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to begin my 3-month internship. The Ethiopian Airlines jet had departed from Dulles Airport, full of nationals anxious to return to their rich heritage, colorful city, and beautiful land. I was headed across the Atlantic to work for the Gaia Association, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with various projects in Ethiopia, including one that promotes the use of alcohol fuels as household cooking energy for low-income urban households and refugee camps.

Opportunities like this don’t surface very often, and the circumstances that afforded me this incredible internship came from various people and places. My “official” Study Abroad program is in Kyoto, Japan. From April through August, I will study Japanese at Ritsumeikan University. However, since the program does not begin until April, my first three months were freed up for, as it happened, the experience of a lifetime. Several other factors came into play: my Vassar roommate’s mother works for the State Department and is currently posted in Addis Ababa. Not shy, I contacted her to ask about the feasibility of spending New Year’s in Addis Ababa and even possibly extending my visit into a full three-month-long stay with her family. I was given an enthusiastic welcoming nod and provided the contact information for the Gaia Association, an NGO with whom she had been working on a renewable fuel project.

From that point on, it was up to me to follow through. I contacted the executive director of Gaia and sent off my resume, transcript, and a letter of academic interest and enthusiasm for Gaia’s inspiring environmental and human rights initiatives. After securing the internship, the next challenge was preparing my family and body for three months in "Developing World Africa." Arms sore and woozy from five vaccines, I marched through REI, outfitting myself with insect repellents, rehydrating salts, and high SPF sunblock. After plane tickets had been purchased and my parents were reassured and reassured regarding my safety, I could finally take a deep breath, close my eyes, and try to imagine the sights and smells of Ethiopia.

Daily Life and Projects in Addis Ababa

It’s been about a month of work here in Addis Ababa. I have finally become familiar with the fascinating and, at times, frustrating interplay between the Ethiopian government, international NGOs, aid organizations, and local cooperatives. I'm working on many different projects, writing reports for submission to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), researching feasible income-generating activities (IGA) to implement in the refugee camps, and managing a promotional campaign for an ethanol fuel alternative to current biomass and kerosene burning household stoves. Working for an NGO in its local setting is invaluable to understanding the importance of geography, politics, and financial support — all significant obstacles sustainable development initiatives face.

Addis Ababa is an Urban Studies major’s dream: the rambling streets run in every direction, following no apparent plan or grid. Buildings are painted in colorful geometric patterns, and neighborhood roads are lined alternatively by gated white mansions and decrepit shanties. Business people stop to pray on the way to work, bowing on the sidewalk toward their favorite church as priests deliver their sermons on megaphones. There are no busking musicians, but the rocky streets are full of children selling puppies and khat, a legal narcotic that grows well in the dry soil. Dogs run wild throughout the city, evidently more street-smart than most pedestrians. While I sip macchiato in an Italian café (thankfully, there is not one Starbucks in all of Ethiopia), I watch herds of cattle stumble by between blue taxis.

I visited two women’s cooperatives in Addis during my first work week. Both take vulnerable women off the streets, especially those who lug around heavy bundles of wood to sell for use as charcoal household fuel, and train them to weave and sell their handmade products in local markets. One of my primary roles at Gaia has been to assess the feasibility of implementing IGA programs in Somali refugee camps. This opportunity to empower women directly results from the ethanol stoves that the Gaia Association distributes: using ethanol as a household fuel eliminates the need to gather firewood, so women have five to eight hours freed up each day for alternative activities. A week later, I was sent to investigate in person. Gaia flew three of us to the border with Somalia to visit two UNHCR refugee camps for five days, enabling us to meet with local government ministries, research IGA possibilities, and discuss our stove project.

Our small plane landed in Jijiga, a town surrounded by dry and dusty desert. Since we could find no vegetables, we subsisted on tibs (fried beef) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. My days of pretending to be a vegetarian were over. Federal police patrolled the streets next to camels and baboons. Beggars pleaded with wide eyes while others shouted nicknames, “China!” and “French!” (Back in Addis, I waved back at a young guy and received, “I love you, my American soldier!” That was a new one.) The refugee camps were an hour’s drive from Jijiga, each camp housing more than ten thousand Somali refugees, their population growing daily. The more permanent refugee houses, called tukuls, are shaped like upside-down bowls. Tukuls are constructed out of bent sticks tethered with string or plastic bags with an exterior patchwork of layered blankets and old t-shirts. I peeked inside a tukul to see a floor mat, a dirty stove, two canisters of food, and a broken shoe. The absence of possessions was no surprise but startling nonetheless.

Working with a Women's Association in Addis Adaba

The most memorable part of the trip occurred on the last day of our visit when I met with ten members of the women’s association at one of the camps, a group of “elected” Somali refugees, to gather first-hand feedback on how to utilize their talents for an IGA best. Hearing them gossip was like eavesdropping on my mom’s book club, constantly chattering about their kids and never the novels. Although our translator, a refugee who spoke broken English, chewed khat throughout the meeting, I think I got the gist of most of the women’s replies. Together, we concluded that recycled plastic basket weaving is the most appropriate program to establish. The entire camp was littered with thousands of plastic bags attached to bushes, trees, houses, fences, and roofs. We planned for the women to collect bags and weave the plastic into colorful baskets to sell locally.

Impact and Learning from the NGO Experience

The internship teaches me the merits of nonprofit work. It allows me to witness the inevitable political barriers facing the developing world. Living in this African city also exposes me to an entirely new and diverse international community. My Gaia colleagues are all graduates of Ethiopian University. I go salsa dancing with Germans and Jamaicans. My ultimate frisbee teammates are history teachers, USAID executives, and Columbian high school students. I live with American diplomats.

Although I am halfway through my internship, this experience has broadened my awareness far more than any book or classroom could have. My Vassar connections enabled me to find this internship, and my education has empowered me to comfortably and substantially contribute. Though the challenges of living with a different family in a stark new environment are many, discovering first-hand that my network truly spans the world excites me about life after graduation and confirms that there’s quite a world out there (or out here, I should say!) for us to explore and engage.

Sara Cornish is a senior at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. She majors in urban studies with a Japanese focus.