This description is a brief introduction to DEVS 310 for potential hosts.
Overview: I would like my students to be able to spend time with you because they have chosen a life of service and there are many things that they must learn for that life that I am unable to teach them. They can best learn these lessons from the example set by you and in the context of your organization. I hope that they are able to offer you and your organization a service that partially compensates for the burden of their presence. My expectation is that these students will be able to learn the realities of trying to be helpful in an organization that is very busy in a culture that is very different than their own. This means that they are to be involved in the organization to the extent that they are helpful and that they are not to be accommodated or entertained significantly beyond that point. They are not there to do things that enable them to feel good about themselves and the work that they have done. That is a self-congratulatory luxury that does little to help them learn what I consider to be a proper ethic of service and it places an enormous burden on host organizations. They must learn to be willing and happy to do whatever the people they wish to help ask them to do, that when there is little that they can do that they learn to be content doing little and that they learn to trust their hosts' assessments of their ability to contribute. I would ask that the people with whom they talk share with them the full complexity of the challenges that they face, that these people smile but not accept the pretensions of knowledge in part produced by their desire to help, that they . Further, I hope that the people in your organization realize that my students are there to learn because they have chosen a life of service, that they are willing and eager to learn, and that they are ignorant of many things that are best learned in the company of patient individuals such as yourself. This expectation, I hope, reduces the burden their presence places on a host organization, increases the likelihood that they will be of substantial service, and affords them a learning opportunity that well fits them for the path of service that has led them to my classroom. I do not know where my students will land. When they do settle, I am certain that the path they walk will have been transformed by the time they spend with you. I do not expect that the learning that lead to that transformation will be easy, but I do expect that it will be permanent.
Details: Students are required to take this internship so that they can have a brief introduction to the realities of development work. This is most often very different than what is taught in a classroom. This internship is short: it just opens their eyes. When they get back we work with that short experience.
I have told my students that they are going to learn. I do not want them thinking that they can make substantial contributions as that belief does not support the kind of humility they require if they are to learn today and if they are really to be of service later. That said, they do have skills. I have asked that students be very modest in their statements about their capacities. If you find these skills potentially interesting, I would be happy to talk with you so that I can better assess their ability to meet your needs prior to their departure.
Our students are required to offer at least 200 hours of service between April 30 and September 1st. For me, that 200 hours is an absolute minimum. I would rather they be able to spend three full months. They must be prepared to cover all of their own expenses.
We have deliberately set this program up so that our students are largely responsible. They find an organization, they arrange their own travel, they look after their own vaccinations and they are prepared to pay all of their own bills. We will be there to stop them from getting into serious trouble, and we would like to know that this is also the case at their posting, but we want them to learn independence.
At the outset I would like to talk with you to see what expectations you have and what support you are able to offer. I will make sure that students who have skills you might find useful understand these expectations and that they are very clear on the details of their placement. For example, the student needs to know what to do when they arrive at the airport. If you are not able to meet them at the airport, I will ensure that any student we send is able to find their own way.
As mentioned, these students are paying their own way and many are going further into debt to pay for this internship. The experience they have will in many cases cement a life of service. I do not mind if you recover the expenses of hosting them. That would be just. I do not, however, want them to get the red-carpet treatment that an intern whose way is well paid by a sponsoring organization might receive. This would distort their experience in a way that is not good and it would allow them to regard you, a host they believe that they have paid well, in ways that are not at all healthy. Their debt to you, as a host, will be enormous. I want them to appreciate and to remember that.
I am fairly new in this work and I have yet a great deal to learn. I am committed to offering people who have grown up in often sheltered circumstances an experience that will change their understanding of their world and secure a commitment on their part to development. The only way I know to do this is through internships such as this. I am not convinced that the manner that we are doing this is the best. If you are able to host, I would dearly like to learn from you how we can do this better in the future.