Hello, my name is Jean-Didier Pierre-François, I’m 16 years old, and I’m a student at the “Liceo Francés de Santo Domingo” the in Dominican Republic. Recently, my school asked all the students from 10th grade to coordinate an internship with a company, in order to discover the professional world. I had the opportunity to work with Empowering Action.  I was really anxious at the beginning, because I didn’t know what to expect. But since the moment I walked in the office for the first time, I was reassured. Everybody was so nice to me that I never felt like a stranger. It was a really pleasant working environment, and at the end of my first day I was very happy.  And, fortunately it just got better and better.

I had a lot of different activities, and my tutor was really the best, explaining every little aspect of the organization. I had the chance to visit some poor neighborhoods in and around the capital, and it was probably my favorite part of the internship, because I got to see a lot of people, to interact with them, to play with the kids. It was also very hard to see them live in such conditions. I was very touched. At one point, when we went to visit some Haitian churches and their communities, thanks to my understanding of 4 different languages, I had the chance to translate the meeting between the members of the churches and the employees from the organization. I was really proud to be able to contribute to the work of the NGO, and to make their job a little bit easier. At the end of the week, to be honest with you, I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay and help them more, because I saw that they are working very hard everyday to fight poverty, and that they’re truly changing people’s lives. I also saw that faith was a HUGE part of their work, the most important one. It was really important for me to see that, because I realized that without faith, you can’t achieve anything. In conclusion, my Internship at Empowering Action was a total success. It was a truly enriching experience, and I hope I’ll be able to bring them more help in the future!