It takes a certain sort of person to be one of our interns, you’ve got to have that je ne sais quoi. It’s easier to describe an intern in what they are not ( here for a jolly on a gap year, wanting to ‘do something good for poor people’ ) than in positive terms, but I’ll refrain from doing so (too much) more that those two examples. Safe to say, if what’s written in parentheses in the previous sentence gives you a chill down your spine, you’ve passed the first test! Our interns are:

Great, active people

that have positive ideas which they are able to comprehend from multiple perspectives, and want to approach us to integrate their ideas into what we are already doing. They don’t have to have a great passion for education or development, but they do have a great passion for what they do, and want to positively increase access to their skills or knowledge, or the benefits that their skill or knowledge can bring by working with people in a equal relationship.

Partners

Teddy spent 6 months building 3 classrooms and making small improvements which had big effects of architecturally tying Hunar Ghar together.  He now consults for us on new projects, and comes back when he can to keep evolving the school

They are partners with us, Educate for Life, they are partners with our team in India, and they are partners with the community and the individuals they interact with. Partners consider their own opinion to be of equal importance to everyone else’s are are interested in finding the best way to do something, and facilitate the expression of more uncertain, un-confident or less articulate members of the team.

A paradox

They have their great idea, and they know that ideas are only great when they are in context. So to understand how their idea is going to work in the community, they are going to have to … learn about it (but you already knew that). This means they arrive with us as a paradox, knowing exactly what they want to do and yet having no idea how to do it. We love existing as paradoxes, being certain enough in what we do to get on and do it, yet never for a second thinking that we are doing things in the right or best way, and constantly challenging our ideas, preconceptions and assumptions, constantly reassessing the situation and context to continually innovate in our approach.

Tough

It’s not like we’re not going to look after you. We’ll put a comfortable roof over your head, cook and eat with you every day, give you lifts, lend you the bike and introduce you to all our friends and family. Pretty soon you will be family (there isn’t an intern yet who we’re not incredibly fond of). Nevertheless, there are will be challenges to face that only you can deal with, and it takes a physically and mentally resilient person to take them all on.