Ever since I was in middle school, I’ve always wanted to work in a non-governmental organisation. I considered myself incredibly fortunate that my first internship was in an NGO based in Amsterdam. SPARK was founded 25 years ago and now aims to help people, particularly women and refugees, in fragile states and communities across 14 regions to study, work and grow their own businesses.
While it would be informative to write about a typical day as a SPARK intern and all the practicalities that come with it, I’d instead dive into my favourite task during the internship that has helped me learn not just about the organisation, but about people and places – writing stories.
SPARK operates mostly in the Middle Eastern and North African region, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Europe. The majority of my internship revolved around writing and editing countless articles about the programmes in these places, whether it was about individual people or specific events. It was a joy to write about networking events and conferences, but writing about people and their personal stories opened my eyes more than the former would.
With the Taliban’s takeover in Afghanistan, several Afghans working in the Netherlands embassy were moved to the Netherlands, one of which was Muzghan. I had the pleasure of talking to her as she told me about her struggles of leaving and starting anew, as I admired the hope she had for her future and her perseverance to survive. I got to know more about Afghanistan beyond the headlines in the news.
Youth radicalisation, extremism, and polarisation continue to be a widespread issue in Iraq. One SPARK programme aims to tackle that through training youths to obtain skills in campaigning and redirect their focus towards a sustainable future in their home country rather than giving in to radicalisation or moving away. I read through interviews my colleague had done with the youths who joined this training as I witnessed how it had transformed their lives. They came out more confident in their abilities, as well as gained the capacity to influence other youths. “The youth needs a voice to keep reminding them to choose a path for themselves,” one of them had said. With such topics now rarely shown in the news, I was given a deeper insight into how extremism still affects them in these regions.
There’s something powerful and moving about turning stories you hear and see into written word – I had the capability to determine how these people and their lives would be perceived. I’ve grown to appreciate writers bringing stories to light, and hope that they were as moved as I was in doing so.