Hi, my name is Rahma. I am from Indonesia and now 21 years old. I am a 3rd-year student in the Political Science University of Indonesia. I came to Korea to represent my university as an exchange student in Chung-Ang University, Seoul, for spring 2016. Coming to Korea is such a big opportunity for me to learn everything about social politics and dealing with the new society. That is why when my friend introduced ACOPIA, I didn’t think twice to apply for an internship. I thought that ACOPIA can give me great experience about how to balance time between study and work, adapt to new environment, and for sure contribute good things to my country in many ways which are useful for my future.
The first week
I started my internship on March 29, 2016. At first, I was so confused and I kept on asking what should I do. My manager said that I have to look for a work camp in Indonesia where ACOPIA can send Korean volunteers. However, I had no idea what kind of work camp is it and what kind of NGO I should look for. Moreover, most of the people in here are speaking in the Korean and Japanese language which make me silent all the time. After several days, I started to enjoy my task. I just have to keep on searching for a work camp in Indonesia as much as I can and contact them to offer a partnership with ACOPIA.
The second week
On my second week, I still kept on sending a lot of emails asking partnership to NGOs in Indonesia. I also got some replies from the email I sent a week before. I did my first Skype meeting with one of the NGOs in Indonesia. I was so sorry at that time because I gave them some wrong information due to lack of knowledge about ACOPIA. Instead of scolding me, my manager laughed and explained more about our program. After that, I became more cautious when explaining to NGO partners.
The third week
On my third week, my task became more challenging. I had to deal with a lot of NGO partners and talk about what they can expect from ACOPIA and vice versa. I translated some information in Bahasa (Indonesian language) to be displayed on our website.
The fourth week
On the fourth week, I followed up with the Indonesia NGO partner. Although day by day I need to put more effort to finish my tasks in ACOPIA, I felt relieved that it didn’t distract my study at all.