Transitions

Those of you who have known me for a while know that I’ll seek out more difficult academic trajectories because I like a challenge.  Case in point, after signing my soul away to get not one but two masters degrees in the space of four years, I decided to pursue a program of study that requires me to give up my usual summer of hero-training (CHB Austin link) to work abroad.  I have been lucky enough to have been offered an amazing internship opportunity with the International Organization For Adolescents (IOFA) in Addis Ababa, and I am excited/nervous to start.

Maybe I should begin with a brief description of what IOFA does.  The organization works to increase well-being of adolescents around the world, and their specific focus is human trafficking prevention.  The Transitions Initiative (on which I’ll be working) was born out of the realization that youth who grow up in institutional care (we would call them “orphanages,” but that’s not strictly correct.  Listen to Terry Gross’s great interview about international “orphanages” here) are more likely to become victims of sex and labor trafficking than youth who have been raised in a traditional family environment.  Often, these youth are forced to transition to adulthood at young ages with little support.  They cannot secure the kind of jobs needed for financial security without education, and they cannot afford the education without work.  They have also not been taught the kind of “street smarts” that other young people gain through familial and community education, making them easy targets for exploitation.  IOFA worked with youth who had recently aged out of institutional care in Cambodia to create a curriculum that would equip those still in care with the tools to successfully transition to adulthood.  This curriculum has seen success in Cambodia, and IOFA would like to adapt the curriculum for use in Ethiopian institutions as well.  This is where I come in.  I will be coordinating focus groups and one-on-one interviews with Ethiopian young people, compiling data, and analyzing narratives to identify specific areas of need, challenges to success, and problems in living that will dictate the adaptation of the trafficking-prevention curriculum. 

So, on the last week of June I will be flying to Addis Ababa!  Not only will I be working with this Transitions Initiative, but I will also be volunteering a couple of days a week at one of these institutions to get a better understanding of the experience of this population.  Guess what I’ll be doing….teaching English!  I swear, after a good 2.5 years of teaching English to non-native speaking children, I should be able to write my own curriculum.  OH WAIT, I already did that.  Of course, most of these lessons and activities assume that the instructor has an elementary grasp of the local language.  Guess I’m going to be taking a crash course in Amharic this month!  Maybe I can find a cheap, used Rosetta Stone. 

This work will not only be used to tailor curriculum for Ethiopian adolescents, but also to tell their stories to people in the United States.  To that end, I will be keeping up with this blog, posting on IOFA’s official blog, and on facebook.  You will be able to follow my adventures and experiences throughout this 8-week internship.  You can also donate and make this a little bit easier on my pocketbook.  Like most internships, this one is unpaid.  I am covering the airfare, living expenses, incidentals (passport renewal, visa application, cell phone bill, internet bill, etc.) through student loans.  Any contribution helps, not only me having this experience and becoming a better social worker, but also IOFA’s mission.  You can donate by clicking here and following the instructions.  http://www.gofundme.com/Transitions-Initiative

I hope that you all will follow me on the journey and get to know some of the amazing work that IOFA does!