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"Internship in the U.K."

April 4, 2007

Eating curry with my teammates

I am currently in Harpenden, England, completing a Relational Peacemaking and Diplomacy Internship with Youth With A Mission. I am working with a diverse team from around the world, focusing mainly on reconciliation in areas of Northern Ireland, the Middle East, and Rwanda. It has been an exhilarating experience so far. I spent my first semester at Rollins discussing and debating issues that I am now getting first hand knowledge of. One of the members of my team is a lady from Rwanda, who survived the genocide, and has a very unique view on the role of the United Nations and other international organizations. Likewise, a young man from Palestine is also on my team. After hearing an extremely one-sided view of the Israeli/Palestinian situation during classes at Rollins, it’s really interesting to hear his view of the conflict that holds his family in fear daily. Living in Bethlehem, the Palestinians are now surrounded by an apartheid-like wall, which our U.S. tax dollars have paid for. The wall is three times as high as the Berlin Wall once was. Palestinians are not allowed through, and now my team member can no longer visit his sister living seven minutes away. I remember reading “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” in my Honors class last semester; now, it seems, I am face-to-face with all the issues we discussed then.

Kate with the Mayor of Ramallah and a teammate

I have already learned so much. I travel around the United Kingdom often, going to conferences and meeting with people from various religious organizations and political groups. At one of these meetings, I was speaking to a man from Iraq. Upon learning that I was American, he turned to me and said, “You are from America? You invaded my country and killed many of my people.” This was a defining moment for me, beginning to realize the extent of trauma that conflict creates in the world. At another meeting, I got to meet and spend time with the Mayor of Ramallah, Janet Michael, who is also the first woman to ever be elected to a mayoral position in Palestine. She spoke of how she is fighting for women’s rights in Palestine and all over the Middle East, and how they are making progress there. I attended another conference which was aimed at promoting worker’s rights in the garment industry in developing nations. There, I attended seminars on the arms trade, modern day slavery, and the continuing AIDS crisis in Africa.

At a conference in London

I do a lot of research as well, putting together information that we send to various government and religious organizations. One of the most interesting facts I came across was that the United States spends around $2 billion a day on the war in Iraq. With that money, we could instead completely stamp out worldwide poverty within a few years, as well as rebuilding infrastructure and providing medical care to everyone in the world who needs it. This information convinces me that my time spent here is well worth it—the world desperately needs people to work towards peace and understanding; to remind those in government of the sacred value of human life.

I am delighted to be continuing my education abroad, and look forward to many more adventures to come!

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