Second-year BA Politics and International Relations student Velislava Gateva spent this summer on a placement in Sri Lanka, which was organised through the School of Politics and International Relations' placement programme. Here, she tells us about her experience working as a Research Intern with the Rosie May Foundation at their Project Hope office in Telwatta:
My co-worker and I compiled a 70-page impact report on the success of Project Hope since it piloted around a year ago. This entailed researching how many families are being and have been supported by Project Hope, our impact on the family and their progress since the day the foundation started supporting them.
Every day in the office was different. On Tuesday and Thursday mornings for the first two weeks, we taught English at Project Hope pre-school. On Thursday evenings, we taught at an after-school English club, and were in the office for three hours. During those three hours we compiled case studies and researched individual women’s profiles to examine their progress and needs since joining Project Hope.
On Wednesdays all the women in the office took time out of their morning to teach us how to cook. In the afternoon, we continued working with the women in the office to assess whether the benefits and objectives of Project Hope had been achieved since the pilot project. We spent the final week predominantly in the office, completing our research.
While we were there, we visited families to see how they are doing and what their living situation is like. This allowed us to understand the extent to which the families are suffering, and the impact Project Hope has had on their lives. By visiting these homes, we could assess how we'd able to help them in the future and whether they required any more assistance. We also had direct contact with the women as many of them came into the office or to the English after-school club, where we gave out questionnaires that would help us assess how happy they are with Project Hope. Many of the women came to learn English at the after-school club with their children so they would be able to spend more time with them as well as become more able to help their children with English homework.
Our day-to-day life outside of the office included waking up at 7am on some days and going to Citrus hotel which has a pool that is open to the public (at a cost), swimming for an hour before we had to get ready for work. At 5pm, we bought watermelons from the little market right outside of the office and headed back to Citrus hotel for another hour of swimming before we headed home. As it gets dark at 6pm, we tended to go to the beach every day and watch the sunset, as well as try to get a little swim in before the tide gets too rough. In many occasions, we went out to restaurant for dinner where we got to try a range of different curries. On the last night we went to the Hikka Tranz hotel for our final meal (I’d recommend it to anyone in Hikkaduwa).
I really enjoyed the heat in Sri Lanka. It was intense, but bearable, and the sunshine kept me happy and motivated. It rained occasionally, I'd say twice a week or so because we were there during the monsoon season. I didn't mind the rain – it was quite refreshing.
Every single person I met in Sri Lanka was so genuine and friendly. One particular woman that the foundation works with was one of the happiest and most grateful people I have ever met. She always had a smile on her face when she walked into the office and treated us like family. She taught us how to make incense sticks, cooked for us and brought her children into the office every week. When we were leaving Sri Lanka, she said we were like family and she felt upset that she wasn't able to better communicate with us.
Posted on Monday 20th November 2017