What it takes to be a Global Citizen? Dehan's Internship Experience in Malaysia

"Through the Global Citizen Program I had the chance to add a momentous experience to my life and have impact on the lives of others. " 

I worked in a NGO named Amitabha Malaysia. In that NGO, we worked as a fund raising team. We supported them for their kids’ orphanage project, old folk home project and recycle project called Yellow Bin. In Yellow Bin project we helped them to find buyers for buy used clothes.  And also we distributed food and other home appliances for a native.

In AIESEC UTM, the university I was doing my project; we had to go the university at least 3 times per week to participate for their AIESEC projects. Most of the times, I worked with their TM team. They helped me a lot to build up my career as an AIESECer. In these projects, I’ve met different type of people and learnt how to deal with them. In my intern team, there were interns from India, Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Germany and Vietnam. So this diversity helped me to develop to have impact on others’ lives

The biggest Challenge I needed to play was with People in Malaysia mainly because of the language. They speak in Malay and Chinese. In my internship, I worked in a Chinese NGO. So most of the time I had to communicate with Chinese people. Mainly It was too hard to understand their pronunciation. During free time, Intern Team was supposed to teach English and also to do a drama with Chinese Orphan kids. But they didn’t understand any single word of English and didn’t get the meaning of the drama. So we decided to do a comic movie for them. Finally it was a big success. You can see the video from following link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtEvFLLi7i4&feature=youtu.be

Going abroad through AIESEC gave me an instant network of students my age. Ultimately the network I build with AIESEC has inspired and challenged me to learn, explore and constantly strive for excellence. Working abroad is a tried and true way of becoming a Global citizen. During my time as a volunteer I learned about different cultures and customs. I learned to adapt to a new environment and improve my communication skills. A Global Citizen experience is every time a unique opportunity to get perspective on life around the world. Additionally to personal development, unique experiences will help me to differentiate myself in the job market. Many HR specialist agree that volunteer work in a CV is at least as valuable as paid work experience.  

Last but not least, AIESEC Global Community Development Program exchange was not just 6 weeks of my life. It was a life in 6 weeks.

Dehan Vithana
Undergraduate of Electrical Engineering
University of Moratuwa