Ever wondered what it might be like to be an intern at Refugee Action? As his internship draws to a close, we asked Sam – our most recent intern – to write about his four weeks with us. Here’s his blog.
I think being an intern for a month can offer a unique insight into an organisation from an outsider perspective, and that’s exactly what I feel my four weeks interning at Refugee Action has given me. Having dabbled in some local refugee campaigns work as a student in Sheffield, I wasn’t prepared for such a dauntingly massive operation as Refugee Action. The scale – the number of staff, the number of offices, the number of projects and the number of clients – is like nothing I’ve ever experienced when volunteering for local refugee organisations. That such a huge organisation can still react so quickly to the cat-and-mouse chase of the changing asylum system is greatly to their credit.
The team in communications and fundraising are incredibly friendly and lovely, and seem to have that amazing ability to appear relaxed and cool as ice yet somehow get an extraordinary amount of work done. Although I was dreading the possibility of four weeks of that most persistent cliché, the intern tea-boy, I seem to have spent most of the month with people making tea for me. Drafting letters to celebrity chefs, researching MPs, and sitting in on a parliamentary all-party group were just a few of the interesting and varied jobs the team set me which made the month seem to fly by.
I spent a day shadowing Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) caseworkers at the Waterloo office which was a really rewarding experience, though it can be quite moving at times. Waterloo can feel a bit chaotic with clients and staff rushing around, but that can only be a testament to the extraordinary success of the organisation and the trust its clients have in it to deliver services like AVR so well. The team keep calm under stressful conditions, which I think helps the individuals they work with feel calm as well.
One of the big communications jobs during my month here was a campaign to highlight the work of our Manchester office, to tie in with “I Love Manchester” day over the bank holiday. Collecting quotes from staff and volunteers about their passion for their work and the city was a joy, as well as hearing all the positive feedback on the resulting blog entry. I think the glowing quote from caseworker and former refugee Hassan really made the piece special and I was really proud of the way it turned out – and the way it highlighted one of the organisation’s largest regional operations.
I’m hugely grateful to the FR and comms team for giving me a chance to hopefully make some positive contributions to this fantastic organisation instead of spending my summer asleep like a typical student. Hopefully I can take some of what I’ve learnt into my volunteering with refugees in the future. I’d love to return to the voluntary sector someday, after discovering what satisfying and fulfilling work it can be. I recommend volunteering at a charity to anyone, not just because of the experience you get but because of the warm gooey feeling inside it gives you. I’ll miss London, and I’ll miss everyone at RA when I move back ‘oop north!
