Dusk at the Capitol

Never underestimate the power that the nine-to-five work day can exert upon your daily routine; this is one of the many lessons that I have learned over the course of my first three weeks in Washington D.C., the place where politics meet reality.  It is a place where a small-town Midwesterner such as myself can easily fall victim to the overarching tones of rapidity and competitiveness.  It is a place where one can find that there exists a clash of understandings.  You see it everywhere; the Metro, the workplace, the restaurants, even the monuments.  From the outsiders’ perspective, there exists a great divide between how people engage with the world that we share.

The Washington Monument against a purple sunset.

It starts as nuance, watching as some individuals rush down the left side of the escalator while others stand idly on the right, not daring to puncture the median threshold for fear of being rebuked by those in much more of a hurry.  Those hurried folks then turn into paradoxical figures upon entering the Metro train cars, cramming in so that the car is far over optimal capacity to avoid running late, all while expressing clear body language that indicates a certain distress that comes with the impending burst of their personal bubbles.  Yet, once the tranquil humming and shunting of the train begins, trance overtakes the awkwardness of proximity, and once you reach your stop, the mentality takes over again.

These observations are an attempt to place you at the core of my reflective process as I adapt to this perplexing and invigorating city.  It would also be fair to admit that I have adapted to my surrounding environment; some of the very strategies that I initially found to be so odd have now become commonplace in my routine.  Much of it is concerned with wanting to understand this “East Coast” mentality that I have only briefly grappled with in the past.  This place is so different from home, but why?  Why do people find it so odd to smile at one another while walking down the street?  Why is starting a conversation with a stranger such a rarity here?  With my inherent differences, where do I fit into this jigsaw?  It leads me to wonder if the “East Coast” mentality is more of a culture centered around getting from point A to point B, whether those points be set in the short term or the long term.  It seems odd that one can sense the hallmarks of cross-cultural immersion while within the confines of their country of origin.

James Madison, the “Father of the Constitution”

This clash of cultures that I am surveying, however, comes secondary to the true reason that I have taken up residence in District of Columbia.  My niche here has been found within the ranks of the International Research and Exchange Board, also known by the catchy acronym, IREX.  Here, I serve as a member of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) team.  Currently, all of my work has been to support the Operations department in organizing the 2017 Mandela Washington Fellowship, a program that has been conducted since 2014 and aims to bring 1000 young leaders from sub-Saharan Africa to experience a summer of coursework at American universities in specialized fields all pertaining to some facet of sustainable development.  This is done in an attempt to empower the next generation of African leaders and promote economic and social development at a grassroots level.

As for my part, I had never realized how many moving parts exist in an international non-governmental organization.  Our team alone is comprised of nearly twenty incredibly proficient individuals, and there is still an immense amount of work that must be done by each of us to manage 1000 Fellows.  Considering that there are many other programs implemented by IREX, one can only imagine the complexity of such an organization and the synergy necessary to ensure that obligations are met and that programs are implemented smoothly.  Perhaps it is the high-stakes nature of working with such important programs with such ambitious goals that assist in the formulation of the aforementioned culture that I have begun to adapt.

The core mission of IREX.

It goes without saying, but my time in Washington D.C. thus far has been incredibly fulfilling.  Working with wonderful people certainly aids in process of acclamation.  However, I have found that many of the small changes that I have made in my daily routine coalesce in the constant pursuit of happiness and the staving off of time.  For example, riding a bike to work each day has therapeutic and physical benefits; access to museums and historic monuments opens up opportunities to acquire knowledge and understand history; living with impressive individuals doing equally important work is simply empowering; and proximity to politics affords chances to get involved and feel as if you are actually making a difference.  Admittedly, I am still unsure of where my time here will lead me, yet the confidence and happiness that I find in a simple day is evidence enough to convince me that I am headed in the right direction, towards a life of leadership and service, underpinned by tenets of truth and justice.  I anticipate a fulfilling summer with IREX and my fellow peers, and I can definitively say that it off to an amicable beginning.

Look, I even have my own desk, complete with a name plate!

About a week into my internship with Lutheran Services in America was when I had my first “CAPS Moment”. I am not sure if this is a real term, but I think it best describes a moment in which a CAPS fellow feels a deep sense of purpose in their called location. I began my internship on a Wednesday and those first few days at Lutheran Services in America were spent with lots of cursory research. My fellowship has a goal of researching the trends of the nonprofit sector, so I therefore began much like I would have begun if this was a research project at Valpo. I read widely and broadly about the nonprofit sector and the organization’s role in it using websites and  journal articles. Even though this was not a university setting but the real world, due to the similar processes my mindset was one of intellectual curiosity, not delving too much into the meaning behind the work. That was until the first Monday.

Within the first few hours of this day I got an offer from one of the supervisors to go with her and one of our member CEOs to a “Hill visit”. Lutheran Services in America acts as an umbrella to 300 Lutheran based nonprofit organizations around the world, working with them to provide financial assistance, advice, connections, etc. and ensuring these organizations are running well.  This CEO was one who had volunteered to advocate for the protection of Medicaid.

Myself, this CEO, our supervisor, Kim, and another intern, walked over to the Congressional offices. It was a supremely imposing building, both inside and out. We made it to the office of the representative we were visiting and got a sit down with one of his staff members. There I was, sitting on a regal couch in one of the offices of a member of Congress, sitting next to a CEO of an important social services organization, and sitting across from a well-dressed staff member. I suddenly felt very out of place and acutely aware that I was an intern who was not even out of college yet. What on earth was I doing here?! I became very self-conscious and awkward. What do I normally do with my limbs when sitting? Do I cross my legs or not? Is my shirt tucked in? Who do I look at?

Then the CEO began talking. He talked about the services his organization offered in its respective state and the incredible work they were doing. He discussed a few heartwarming stories about groups of siblings who found their way safely into loving foster families and whose lives were forever changed for the better by his organization. He also talked about how much his organization and those they serve, rely heavily on Medicaid.  Kim mentioned how much this affected, not just his constituents, but also the constituents of so many other organizations in the Lutheran Services network.

Sitting on that couch I received my CAPS moment. Suddenly, the work I was doing for this network was not just some other paper. All at once I realized, perhaps for the first time since I got there, the real extent to which this was indeed the real world, and the extent to which this work that I was doing could affect these people.

Please understand, I am under no delusions of grandeur that the report I will have written by the end of the summer will fix all of the growing issues in these programs. I realize that I, just a lowly intern and 19 year old undergrad, will of course not be able to fix all of these issues. But that didn’t really matter right then and there. What mattered was that I had, and have, an opportunity, just like that Congressman and his staff, and just like that CEO, to make a difference for people, however small it may end up being. I have a purpose here in DC.

I returned back to the office and sat down at my desk. I opened my laptop and continued my research, seemingly just like before. But, this time, I had a sense of purpose that this work matters and that I may be able to in some way make a difference.