My first day interning for The Borgen Project wasn’t as nerve-wracking as most first days: I clicked “CLOCK IN” on a website and started working on an Excel spreadsheet titled “Boot Camp Checklist.”
While I loved the rest of the internship, those first few days were some of the most illuminating hours of my life. I learned about the intricacies of AP Style (the most tragic rule is against the use of the Oxford Comma, which still physically pains me every time I edit out that final comma) and what exactly Search Engine Optimization was. But that checklist had a lot more than editing basics.
In fact, the majority of the items I read and studied described the history of The Borgen Project and the causes it supported. To be completely honest, I had a lot to learn about the company. I knew that I would be editing articles for an organization that combatted world poverty, and that was enough inspiration for me.
When I was in eighth grade, our middle school raised over a thousand dollars to send LifeStraws to Uganda, and I still think about the impact those tiny pieces of plastic made. Something as simple as access to clean water could change a life forever. So when I saw the description for The Borgen Project’s internship, I knew that this could be something special.
In addition to pursuing my passion in writing and editing, The Borgen Project also allowed me to become a part of the fight against global poverty. This organization looks bigger than LifeStraws and aid projects: it works to pass bills in Congress that could change millions of lives.
Before this internship, I must confess that I was hesitant to believe in the power of our government. The current presidential campaign, our nearly incomprehensible amount of debt, and the long history of exploitation and discrimination against many of our citizens left me with very little trust in the government’s ability to really improve the world we live in.
This will be the first presidential election in which I can vote, and I felt hopelessly uninspired. There are two warring clichés that hover in my mind:
- The chipper—and overly optimistic, even for me—mantra that you can make a difference, no matter how small you may feel.
- The “you are one voice in a sea of voices, and no matter how loud you shout, you will never be heard” dronings of the Eeyore-like pessimists.
I’d like to think of myself as pretty aggressively optimistic, but contemplating the state or our government and my potential effect on it seemed a bit too far out of reach. And then I started reading and editing articles about the numerous programs and changes that are actually making a dent in global poverty.
I learned that in the last fifteen years, we have reduced both world hunger and maternal mortality rates by half. Half.
Additionally, the percentage of people living on less than $1.25 a day dropped from nearly 50 percent in 1990 to 14 percent last year.
Before taking this internship, I assumed that ending global poverty was one of those Problems We Will Never Be Able to Solve. Yet here I am, reading about these incredible changes. The entire world is working together, and it’s succeeding.
Those lovely ideas of optimism and cooperation have even fought their way onto the Congress floor. Since I started my internship in July, we have passed two major reform acts:
- The Foreign Aid Transparency & Accountability Act: This piece of legislation will vastly improve the way the United States provides aid to countries in need. It provides various guidelines that promote transparency and efficiency.
- The Global Food Security Act: In approving this act, the United States has emphasized a focus on fighting world poverty and hunger through aid programs that will create more sustainable communities and make sure families around the world get enough to eat.
My image of the immovable, stubbornly-divided House and Senate is a little less disheartening now. Both of these bills experienced a great deal of bipartisan support. Improving the world’s standard of living is a cause both parties can support, and similarly universal issues will continue to encourage positive relations between the Democrats and Republicans.
This fight isn’t over. But I do believe that we, as a nation and integral part of this vastly complex world, can make a difference. I believe that we are not so hopelessly tangled in our own party lines and issues that we will never be able to sit down, take a moment to listen, and really start working towards a better future.
And I have a voice, too.
The Borgen Project requires each of its interns to call and email their representatives on a weekly basis. While this terrified me at first (Gen X was right about one thing: this Millennial really hates talking on the phone, particularly with strangers), I now look forward to those calls. In less than a minute, I ask the intern on the other side of the phone to support the Reach Every Mother and Child Act and wish them a lovely day. Each call I make becomes a tally on an update my representatives receive each week, and they then take a look at those issues and decide which ones to support.
During my first week of classes, I received a letter—an actual, real life piece of paper—from Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina. In the letter, he described his commitment to supporting foreign aid and took time to describe and ruminate on the details of the Reach Every Mother and Child Act. At the end of the letter, he thanked me for my contributions and encouraged me to continue calling and emailing.
My little tally prompted a response. It made Senator Thom Tillis consider the advantages of supporting struggling mothers and their children. And (I hope) he will support the bill when it comes to a vote.
My voice did something. My voice not only joined the crowd, but it reached the ears of the people I wanted to listen most. My voice, no matter how small, made an impact.
If enough people called their congress members and asked to increase foreign aid (which currently uses less than one percent of the current budget), perhaps more representatives would stumble out of the tangle of party lines and agree to listen to one another. My voice won’t be alone, but ringing out in harmony with a nation who still wants to believe that it is the best country in the world.
And, thanks to this internship, I truly believe that this is possible.
If you want to donate to The Borgen Project (and make your voice heard), you can do so here. Depending on the donation, I might write you a poem, bake you cookies, or embarrass myself in public!
You can help, too! Learn more here:
The successes we’ve had in fighting poverty
Image Credit: The Borgen Project