My internship with Humanitarian Affairs Asia has been one of the most impactful times of my life. Still, I find myself lost in vivid recollections from the experience. The people, the work, the country; I have fond memories of all. Working for Humanitarian Affairs simply was for me, an experience I will never forget. 

The internship was a deeply impressionable experience, which opened my eyes to realities I was previously unaware of; quite simply it molded the way I view the world. Humanitarian Affairs allowed me to grow and develop areas of myself that have proven translatable in many fields and disciplines since completing the internship. Specifically, the experience granted me an opportunity to develop exceptional professional skills, a diverse set of communicative skills, and experience in leadership.

As a professional experience, it must be recognized that the organisation is headed by a leader who is as committed to the growth of the team as he is to the growth of its individual parts. Mr. Kim Solomon is one of the most inspiring leaders I have ever worked with; his ability to drive the most out of his interns is clear in the incredible results of the University Scholars Leadership Symposium.

I can still hear Mr. Kim in our first week explaining to us – a group of four interns from the US; that we are going to be “stretched like rubber bands. Maybe, we didn’t know what he meant at the time, but after months of hard work and a successful symposium in Hanoi, Vietnam; we were all confident that we had grown and “stretched” a great deal over a short period of time.

In short, as much as the internship with Humanitarian Affairs offered me direct professional skills, it also provided me with communicative skills I was previously unfamiliar with.

The culmination of my time with Humanitarian Affairs was at the University Scholars Leadership Symposium. The symposium had a sort of electricity to it that I had never experienced before.

Far more could be said of my time as an intern with Humanitarian Affairs, but maybe it is best summed up simply as an experience I will never forget.