Why am I here?

I’ve realized that while some of you are caught up on what I’m doing in Egypt, others aren’t quite sure, and perhaps my first post should have been a bit of an introduction to why I’m here.

So I guess to start, I graduated this past spring with a degree in international development studies and in business administration. After applying for a few different positions, I was offered an internship by MEDA (Mennonite economic development associates) for 5 ½ months here in Egypt. MEDA doesn’t have an office here but works with PTE (Partners in technology exchange) and EACID (Egyptian Association for Community Initiatives and Development) on a project called Protecting and Promoting the Interests of Children work Work (PPIC-Work). There have been and are other partners in the project, but these are the ones I will mostly be working with. I will be based in Aswan, working with EACID to document the stories of some of the children who have been part of the project in that city through pictures, text, and perhaps video. There are links on the side to the websites of the organizations I mentioned if you want to read more. That’s my basic understanding of my role here over the next 5 months. The plan right now is to be here until the end of January. My work will most likely cross over into other parts of the project such as ‘learning through work’, which is Rachel’s primary task, as well as networking, which is done by Reem.

There you go, better late than never I guess. Feel free to ask any questions you have…although I can’t promise I’ll be able to answer them just yet.