I’ve heard before that people who express gratitude often tend to be happier than people who don’t.

There’s a YouTube video about it, so it must be true. Finishing up my time at LWR certainly gives me an

overwhelming feeling of gratitude. So, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who made this

summer possible.

 

First, to everyone at the Institute of Leadership and Service, thank you for giving me this incredible

opportunity to serve as a CAPS Fellow this summer. A few special shout outs to Deb Garbukas for her

help and patience in planning my travel arrangements; Ali Devries for her reassurance and also her

careful and wonderful housing selection; and Elizabeth Lynn for her encouragement. Thank you to all of

you. Without your encouragement, patience, and careful planning I would have spent my summer on

Netflix, so needless to say I deeply appreciate everything you all have done to help all of us in the CAPS

Fellows program.

 

Second, I would like to thank all of my colleagues at Lutheran World Relief. With their guidance and

support, I was able to learn this summer from (in my opinion) the best of the best in the international

development community. It was a very busy summer, but from the bottom of my heart I appreciate the

opportunity to work at an organization where both the people and the mission are genuine. For my first

internship, the bar was certainly set very high.

 

Finally, a brief thank you to my parents, who were willing to let me move across the country for an

entire summer. I imagine as a parent it’s pretty stressful to have a kid who keeps wanting to move

somewhere she’s never been to spend time with people she’s never met, but that’s probably all part of

the job. In any case, if I was not armed with their love and support there’s no way I could’ve done it. So

many thanks to you, Mom and Dad.

 

And now it’s time to talk about what I learned this summer. I’ve noticed the other fellows have generally

boiled it down to 5 things they have learned, so I will follow their lead.

 

1. Sit at the table: As a young woman who is only halfway through my undergrad career, it was

at times really nerve-wracking to be in meetings with all of my highly educated, well-spoken

colleagues. Often, I would think to myself, “It doesn’t matter what I have to say”. But my boss,

Kate, was always ready to combat my willingness to stand on the sidelines and watch. At every

meeting she invited me to sit at the table, even if it meant my superiors had to stand. Now that

doesn’t necessarily mean that I had something to say at every meeting, or that the ideas I had

changed the nature of the organization. But I do believe it was an important lesson to learn

before I embark on my professional career. You have to count yourself in.

 

2. Business is a carefully constructed magic show: I say this with no cynicism, but one thing I’ve

learned this summer is that business is mostly an illusion. Nothing is ever “just” what it seems.

You aren’t “just” going to dinner, or a conference, or a meeting. The subtleties matter. Maybe

this is obvious to those in the business world, but I had no idea of the planning that went in

to seemingly simple encounters. One of my jobs here was to assist colleagues who would

be attending conferences out of state. I researched all of the guests we had names for, the

companies they worked for, if their companies had interests that overlapped with ours. A list

like this would also include a photo of the person attending and what a potential point of entry

for conversation might be. It’s quite the sleight of hand.

 

3. My computer is my best friend: My first week on the job, our staff was anticipating the arrival

of a colleague from Niger. He spoke English well, but was fluent in French. I expected to be

doing some work in French during my time at LWR, but I didn’t expect to be speaking French to

a fluent speaker on week one. Needless to say, my computer became my best friend for looking

up all kinds of vocabulary words we hadn’t gotten around to in French class, like climate smart

agriculture and animal husbandry.

 

4. My computer is my worst enemy: Even though I love the work LWR is doing, it really is

exhausting to sit at a computer for nearly 8 hours every day. Plus, our work environment is

generally very quiet so most conversations happen silently on Skype messaging. While my

computer was a great resource, it really made me realize how in the future I cannot pursue a

job where all I do is computer work. While I definitely don’t mind it for four or five hours, I need

something active and social to do during other parts of the day.

 

5. Nothing prepares you for the real world quite like the real world: While a college education

is certainly important and useful for the future, it definitely does not mean that your degree

endows you with the skills to find your calling and purpose in society (see what I did there?

). Even at that, calling and purpose is transient in itself. Even if people around the world were

free tomorrow of poverty, injustice, and human suffering I don’t believe anyone at LWR would

throw their hands in the air and say “Well, sweet! Glad I’ve fulfilled my purpose! Time for a

nap!” We are called and created to do and be many things. And the vocation we find isn’t one

place or one purpose, it’s always changing. So I think that as prepared as I felt to take on this

internship, what actually happened is that this internship prepared me for something else. After

this summer, I really feel proud of the person God called and created me to be and inspired to

use my particular strengths and gifts to make life better for someone else.

 

 

Thank you,
C

I’ve been in Baltimore for nearly four weeks now and I will admit that the dreamlike state I’ve been drifting about in has started to vanish. Public transportation is not as exciting as it once was—especially considering the heatwave. Though I will admit there is still something magical about the way the Charm City Circulator (the free bus I ride to and from work every day) can accommodate a crush of people that nearly defy the laws of physics. I should also admit that living in the city isn’t all charm either. The view is great, but the noise is nonstop. And all the surrounding grocery stores criminally overcharge for cereal. And chocolate chips, surprisingly.
But I’m not complaining. I’m just acknowledging that my dreamlike state is vanishing into reality. Suddenly, I feel like I’m settling in. I sleep just fine at night in spite of the car alarms and noisy trucks. I don’t have to constantly watch for my bus stop; I am perfectly content to listen to music or watch something on Netflix until the circulator shudders to a stop on Biddle Street. Sometimes I’ll even enjoy a walk home from work on the days that aren’t too humid. It’s a little over a mile and a half, but seeing those buildings from the street—towering over you, pitching things into odd geometric shadows, it’s a strange kind of beautiful. Especially during the late afternoon.

I have grown to appreciate the smells of my neighborhood. The short walks I take when I’m going out to dinner or the bus stop. I appreciate the wind here, which unlike the wind in Valparaiso, actually does not continue forever. It’s also pretty great that I can now walk in to the coffee shop by my apartment and the baristas just know exactly what I’m going to order—Jamoca Almond Fudge Iced Coffee, small—with cream.

There are some things though that I do not think I will ever grow used to. Since my first day at Lutheran World Relief, I have been consistently overwhelmed with the kindness of my coworkers and colleagues and wholly inspired. When I look at these people every day, I cannot imagine better role models. I cannot imagine anything I would like to do more than to one day stand and work with them on the incredible projects they do, and share their incredible and unwavering passion. Yes, I am busy. But I want to be. I see people who have come in to work long before me when I arrive at 8:30 and stay long after I leave at 4:30. They don’t drink coffee or take long lunch breaks. They don’t find secret corners of the office to go waste time in when they are bored. And their dedication makes me want to work just as hard as they do. People don’t work like that because they want overtime hours. Money is not a big enough motivator for that kind of continual, rigorous effort. When I think specifically of the women I work with in the New Business Development unit, I know it is not money that drives them to do the work they do. These incredible women are driven by a contagious passion for what they do, and they do it very well.

 

My colleagues are gracious, hospitable, and warm—and I have the deepest admiration for them personally and professionally. The work itself is also something that inspires and energizes me. There have been days when I have been *nearly* moved to tears at work from reading some of the truly astounding projects LWR does around the world. Recently, I was reading about Niger and was struck by how imperative it is at Lutheran World Relief that they help communities to help themselves. LWR trains communities to be resilient to climate change and disasters so that they can make their community stronger. Relief work isn’t about giving money or food to people who don’t have it, not completely anyway, it’s really about empowering people to improve their own lives and communities. That’s something that I personally think is pretty awesome. Overall, I’m learning a lot and growing a lot and I can’t wait to see what happens in the next four weeks.

 

Until next time,

Caprice

 

 

The views expressed in this post are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of Lutheran World Relief.