This winter break, I was fortunate enough to start a two-week internship at empowHER India. An NGO that empowers women and adolescent girls in India and has successfully been able to transform communities by creating an equitable society. As a third-culture kid who has spent her entire life living abroad, away from my home country, my knowledge of the lack of women’s rights in some parts of India was very limited. So getting this opportunity to learn and be able to help these communities has been a very humbling experience.
On the first day of my internship at empowHER India, I was welcomed kindly by the empowHER team and educated through a slideshow on what the organization does. I was introduced to empowHER’s two programs: Setu, which specializes in educating adolescent girls living in rural parts of India on financial literacy and vocational skills, and WaSH, which makes sure schools in rural villages have proper sanitation.EmpowHER’s programs are carried out in approximately 70 villages. Setu interested me, since I myself, at 15 years old, fall under the category of an adolescent girl. It saddened me how many of these rural girls missed out on a proper childhood as many of them were given countless adult-level responsibilities at a young age. After learning about empowHER India through the presentation, I was determined and motivated to complete all of my tasks to the best of my ability, since the organization’s cause was something I truly cared about, and I was very keen to do whatever I could to make a difference.
Throughout this internship, I was able to do a variety of different things. During my first few days there, I was asked to help out in the marketing department of the organization. This involved going through empowHER’s Instagram posts and editing the captions to make them up to date. I was also asked to create a list of influencers in Mumbai, who could help promote the organization. I did this by taking the time to research and discover influencers in Mumbai who matched our profile. In addition to the marketing aspect, I helped the WaSH team by creating a poster to show the difference between a clean toilet and a dirty toilet through two different visuals. Furthermore, I familiarized myself with the organization’s operations in Karjat, which is a small undeveloped town on the outskirts of Mumbai. This is where empowHER India’s main office is and where they run the Setu and WaSH services. I went through multiple files filled with photos of girls who were benefiting from empowHER’s services in Karjat. After seeing these photos and seeing the joy empowHER India brought to the girls’ faces I was eager to go see the villages in Karjat. I then requested to go see the villages. Going to Karjat was an eye-opener for me, because I had never experienced going to a real village since I have lived in modern cities for most of my life. It was very heartwarming to meet the village girls and to find out how empowHER India’s services have benefited them by making them more independent and educating them.
My overall experience at empowHER India has been wonderful, and I am full of gratitude to be able to get the chance to be a part of something that has educated so many girls in villages all over India. I will continue supporting the organization while I am in Singapore and will never forget my time in empowHER India.
matcha for the mind 