After two days as an intern...

I just have to start out by saying the past two days have been awesomely ridiculous. This picture shows my experience: 2 days in the office. I have to say I was forewarned of the proposal, but I had no idea to what extent I would be involved.

Preface to my story: generally, minute-by-minute accounts fail to meet my standard of good reading. But seriously, this was ridiculous.

Food for the Hungry (DRC) receives 90% of its funds from government organizations. Great. But what I didn't know was what it takes to finalize a proposal to USAID for 36 million dollars. Well, now I do!

Keep in mind this was a huge project that required much teamwork and commitment months in advance. But for me, a lowly intern, the madness began Monday morning as I was doing some budget narrative work and making templates. There wasn't a dull moment in the office.

By about 5pm local time, I was informed (by the hardworking D.C. office) that I needed to get in contact with a staff member in the office so I could fill out the DIP (Detailed Implementation Plan) for our agriculture programs.

So I found Emmanuel, and began to attempt to explain to him what I didn't even understand myself in French. 2 problems: 1) it was my first day in the office -- I had no clue how/when to implement programs that I had just learned existed. 2) the proposal was all in English, so I was translating into French, discussing the situation, and trying to translate the solution back into English. My partner on this project, Emmanuel, has the most amazing laugh and is a joy to be around...but he is a verbal processor; so what might have taken 1 hour took 3 hours.

Later that night around 10pm, I found the country director and logistics director downstairs working hard. I offered to help and got more than I bargained for. I was awake working alongside them until 2am, creating international travel budgets and revising other stuff -- really didn't have much of a clue what I was doing.

So anyways, today after two long revisions and hardly any sleep, we ran the proposal to a UPS-like service to have it post-marked just minutes before the 5pm deadline. To understand that rush, I guess you had to be there. Here is Lindsay and I with the finished narrative that we revised many many many times!

It would be accurate to say my orientation has not been tame, but instead a get your hands dirty type of experience.

And I loved it.