#phnfp

Today I spent all day with my internship host Julia. We talked a lot about how I’ve experienced these past few weeks as an intern at Girls’ Globe, and how I’ve worked with the work plan that she provided me with 8 weeks ago. We concluded that I can (proudly) tick off the bullet points of the work plan, which of course is what’s been my goal.

E.g., I’ve written the amounts of blog posts and conducted the amounts of interviews I was supposed to, I’ve recruited bloggers and organizations, and I’ve been able to take part in local events and done live coverage – among other things! 

So, to wrap everything up, I’ll share some survival tips that could be of interest to students that are in the planning phase of their internship process: 

1. Be self-disciplined. If this is not a characteristics that’s with you by nature, I strongly suggest an effort in developing some. Because, in my experience, you can come a long way with it. There’s nothing to loose, and remind yourself that this internship is actually “only” 8 weeks long, and for (at least) these weeks, find that discipline and enjoy the rewards of it. 

2. Be on time. Whether it’s about finding your internship, signing your internship contract, finish a task at your internship place or a meeting, I can’t stress it enough. It is SUCH a nice feeling NOT to do everything in the last minute, and really – it’ll make you look so much more professional to everyone around you. 

3. Be open and open-minded. Your internship is probably and hopefully going to give you plenty of opportunities to network and to make some valuable contact with people who are interested in the same things that you are. You can never have too many contacts when it comes to work, and you’ll probably regret not making an effort. Also, be open-minded towards new people, new tasks and new places that you’ll have the amazing opportunity to encounter. 

4. Don’t assume things. Be careful to just assume that people around you understand the world the same way that you do. This is particularly important in cultural setting that differs from your own. 

5. Believe that the sky is the limit. Dream big and wildly and don’t let anything stop you from doing what matters most to you. If there’s something that’s really important to you, and that you want to accomplish in your internship – do everything that it takes to fulfill this vision! 

6. HAVE FUN!

OK, so this picture of my fabulous Girls’ Globe tote bag, my calendar, computer and a cup of coffee could have been related to a potential obvious challenge of mine during my internship ---> to remain focused while mainly working alone. 

However, this has actually not at all been an issue to me during these 8 weeks that soon have passed. I’ve really enjoyed sitting by myself at libraries and coffee shops, and to me it’s not such a big surprise. I’ve always been more disciplined and able to get things done when I do it myself. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoy team work and would never want to work alone forever. It’s just, for these 8 weeks it’s been really, really nice.

Could it potentially be due to the fact that I’ve had a little human being stuck to some part of my body (my breasts for the first 6 months, then mainly the legs when she started to crawl and stand up against things) for quite some time? Yes, I absolutely think that this is a contributing factor to why I’ve (quite immensely) enjoyed this time alone. 

This picture of me and my daughter Juno was taken by my husband, when we met up for a breastfeeding break the other week. And THIS is what has been challenging about working and at the same time being a breastfeeding mother. We’ve really had to juggle to make things work, since I’m still breastfeeding our daughter several times a day. Of course, it’s been a huge advantage that I’ve been able to have a flexible schedule because this means that the nursing hasn’t suffered, and I haven’t had to pump milk (which, by the way, I absolutely hate to do), find somewhere to store it, etc. etc.

I feel tremendously privileged to live in a country (Sweden) where we first and foremost have one of the best legal frameworks in regards of parental leave, but also where breastfeeding is quite accepted in public spaces. This has made my life (and internship period!) so much easier than I imagine that it could’ve been, had I been living in a different part of the world. No wonder so many women give up breastfeeding in the first few weeks of their babies lives, when there’s no legislation backing them up . Talk about blaming the victim when telling women that breastfeeding is the best they can give their babies, that rates are going down and then not supporting them fully. It actually makes me sick.

OK, over to some challenges I’ve faced that are directly linked to my internship at Girls’ Globe. The main challenge for me has been to let go of the thought of myself as “only an intern”. My host has been so great at making me feel like I’m as big of a part of Girls’ Globe as anyone else, and she’s given me a lot of responsibility. When I did let go of this, I’ve been able to enjoy my work much more. 

When communicating over the ever so famous Internet, I’ve come to realize that it’s very easy to interpret things more wildly than when communicating face-to-face. I’ve had one situation where the communication didn’t work 100% smoothly, and where I really had to be careful with what I wanted to communicate. In the end, everything worked out fine, and I’m grateful that I got to practice my communication skills. 

Right now, my communication energy is running low, so I better stop writing before something bad happens!

So, I’ve been quite absent. Last Monday my daughter got a classic Swedish winter stomach flu. Me and my hubby thought we’d been spared, but nope – that was not the case. Two days later I started to feel sick, and two days after that my husband got a fever. When we all finally thought it was over, our daughter got a fever again and so it continued for 2 weeks. It’s been – to say the least – exhausting. 

This Monday I was finally able to work again, and it was nice to get out of the house. I’ve had many emails to reply to, and many people I’d contacted before the plague joined our little family, that I had to follow up with. 

So, since 2 weeks disappeared just like that, now I’ve realized that since my internship is actually coming to an end (my last day is next Thursday!!!!!!! #timeflies) I have to start wrapping everything up. I need to make sure that all the people and organizations I’ve been in contact with regarding joining the Girls’ Globe network feel like they’ve gotten all the information they need, and hopefully, in the end of my internship, I’ll be able to brag about all the cool people I’ve recruited to our wonderful organization. 

Also, I’ve published a post about me and my husband’s journey to pregnancy (which includes cancer, infertility and IVF) and I’ve been working on a blog post on breast-milk substitutes and big corporations in this billion-dollar industry that will be posted any day soon. 

I really feel like I would have needed and wanted this internship to continue for at least 4 more weeks. Because it does take time to get used to something new, whatever that might be. And now that I’ve finally gotten the grip of this, I wish I’d be able to continue.

OK, my last week is coming up and there’s a few Tumblr-things I need to do. I need to interview GG founder and president Julia so that you guys can “meet” her and hear her thoughts on why GG is important and so on. I also need to post some more pictures, and write down tips for students who are about to go on their internship, or need inspiration on where to go or what to do.

I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts that I’ll share with you as well, but for now – have a wonderful weekend and give someone a hug!

After the Human Rights Days I’ve spent time re-connecting with those I met during the conference to brainstorm cooperation ideas. I’ve also spent some time on recruiting new bloggers and organizations to Girls’ Globe. I really enjoy the recruitment process – and the feeling when I find someone who shares Girls’ Globes values and who are to motivated and inspired to engage in the organization. Each time I’ve reached out to someone, I’ve gotten similar responses, regardless of their will to engage themselves. It usually sounds something like this: 

“The work that your organization does is so imperative in improving the lives of women and girls”

I think I’m really starting to understand this. Of course, ever since I came across the organization, I’ve seen the significance and value of it. But the more I’m getting to know the organization, the deeper this understanding becomes – that the work done by Girls’ Globe is so, so important. Young women’s voices need to be heard and the space that Girls’ Globe creates for them is invaluable. 

Over to the objectives, here they are again:

Develop my communication skills

Develop my writing skills

Gain a deeper understanding of MNCH (maternal, newborn, child health)

Gain a deeper understanding of breastfeeding

Looking back at week number two of the internship – when I first reflected upon my objectives – I can now proudly say that I’ve definitely made some progress! During the Human Rights Days, I definitely challenged myself when it comes to communication, and I really enjoyed it. It’s always like that, you just need to break the ice and then when you feel like you’ve succeeded with anything, it. feels. so. good. 

My writing skills are under constant development and improvement since I continuously write content for the blog, and write plenty of emails more or less every day. 

I’ve conducted an interview with the president of ILCA, International Lactation Consultant Association, Michele Griswold about breastfeeding myths, and I have two upcoming interviews next week which I’m thrilled about! These interviews definitely deepens my knowledge about MNCH and breastfeeding in such an inspiring and creative way!

The interviews will magically transform into a few podcast episodes in The Mom Pod. Stay tuned!

As I mentioned in my last post, last week was packed with inspirational events! On Wednesday evening, we we’re invited to a networking evening here in Malmö with a Swedish platform called Flickaplattformen – or The Girl Child Platform. It is a 2-year project, and it aims to connect all Swedish initiatives and organizations working to strengthen and improve young girl’s position in society, to create long-term and sustainable cooperation. Their goal is to raise issues of girls’ rights on the political agenda.

It was an inspirational evening with a lecture on gender equality held by Kristina Wicksell from an organization called Make Equal, which is a mother organization to Flickaplattformen. She shared with use their method called The Equality Effect, which aims to give practical advice and methods to businesses and people on how to create more equal societies. They work as inspirational speakers and process leaders focusing on solutions within the field of equality.

The day after it was time for the Human Rights Days. It was two packed days, filled with seminars, some live reporting and networking.

On the first day we did some mini-interviews with fellow conference participants, which we share on our Instagram (more to come!). I also attended one seminar on the Swedish Health System, and how it works (or rather, doesn’t work) for refugees seeking care here, hosted by Läkare i Världen (Doctors in the World). They work to make sure that everyone receive the care that they need and have the right to. It was very interesting, and at the same time sad, to listen to their experiences and Eliot Wieslander, the host of the seminar, concluded it nicely by saying:

“It’s more expensive not to give care, than to do so.”

In the afternoon, I attended a seminar called “Agenda 2030 is set – and now what?”. More or less – the participants in the plenary discussed the SDGs and what Sweden is doing to achieve these goals. To be honest, it was quite a stiff and not very uplifting hour of discussions. To be able to engage people (especially young) to take action towards the SDGs I think that these sorts of seminars need to be done in a different way – in a way that everyone understands them and their aim, and feel encouraged and uplifted. Oh well. You can’t always get what you want! 

Day two started with a seminar held by Reema Nanavaty (pictured above) from SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association of India), who is featured in the video I posted last week. SEWA is India’s biggest member organization for handicraft- and textile workers, and they have been active since 1972.

 They work to organize the poor women workers in India to bargain for their rights and representation. This was indeed a very inspiring seminar to attend, and Reema Nanavaty shared many sunshine stories with the audience. When asked about how to tackle the gender challenges in India, Reema said:

“When women come together and have economic security, they are able to deal with many social issues imposed on them by the society. When women have organized, they have overcome the cast issue. At SEWA, women come together to fight poverty.”

Immediately after SEWA’s seminar, the next seminar took place, called “Refugee Crisis – for whom?”. The goal was to present the effects and human consequences of Europe’s border controls and to present suggestions for a solution. The panelists discussed the so called refugee crisis, referring to the large number of people who seek refuge from war and persecution in Europe. 

The going-home-message was that the real desolation affects those who flee and are forced out on a life threatening voyage on the Mediterranean Sea. It is a crisis for them, not for the countries who have the potential to help them, but instead build walls and further complicate their lives. 

Kadidja Bedoui from the Swedish organization Vi Gör Vad Vi Kan, or We Do What We Can (non-profit organization aiming to fund aid for refugees arriving at Europe’s borders), summarized the discussion by saying:

“What we have seen in Southern Europe is a collective failure.”

As you might have understood, this was quite a heavy hour and a half. So, I decided to finish the day and the conference with some more uplifting networking with exhibitors before heading home. And before leaving I was caught by the Red Cross outside the building where the conference was held, and asked to support their social media campaign #ProtectHealthCare. As the hashtag itself says, it aims to protect health care workers and facilities from being attacked and becoming a target in armed conflicts and other emergencies.

The final two weeks mostly passed on arranging the data and a bit of involvement in the planning of awareness program. Beside that there were not much work done these weeks. 

Overall internship resulted into a great experience. Although my involvement in was more hours than was required, but the outcomes that I have got is worth. So here are some of survival tips for my fellow mates that would be useful if they are planning to do internship in Nepal. 

1. CV and Cover letter should be prepared beforehand so that you get enough time for correction if needed.

2. Application for visas should be made as early as possible. It might take more than 6 months to get a tourist visa for Nepal.

3. Get proper vaccinations before you leave as there are always high chances of getting disease when the living environment is changed.

4. Electricity cut-off is the major problem in most of the part, you might have to stay in darkness for 12 hrs a day. 

5. Slow internet

6. As the road extension project is going on in Kathmandu valley, it will take a longer time to travel due to traffic jam.

Possible tasks: