It is hard to realize that this fellowship, nine months later, is coming to an end. At times this experience was extremely enjoyable, at other times it was unbelievably stressful, but at no time was I not learning more about myself, those around me, and about the world in general. Living in an environment completely different than what I have grown up in has always been rewarding. Whether that is in Manila, Amman, or even transitioning from Portland to Santa Clara, I have always tried to take the most from these new environments. However, my time living in the Philippines really helped me realize what I want to work towards for my future.

In my experiences living in the developing world, I learned that becoming as involved as I could in the culture that surrounded me was crucial to me benefitting the most from my time there. During my time in Jordan my engagement included speaking Arabic as frequently as I could, meeting as many people as possible, and trying to see all of the country and enjoy all of its wonders. This merely kicked off my desire to continue to travel and become involved in cultures significantly different than my own.

Though I was able to constantly learn from my surroundings in Jordan, working for an NGO didn’t quite let me directly engage with the people I was helping. This was quite different than my experience with Rags2Riches. My time in Manila allowed me to meet a lot of the artisans that the enterprise employed. By hearing their personal stories and talking with them beyond simply piloting the social impact survey, I gained a personal connection with these people. They were all very welcoming towards me, offered me delicious food, and treated me as a person instead of just a foreigner. I learned that there is a happiness that stretches far beyond the Western idea of material comfort. But, while learning this, I also learned that there were many improvements needed to raise the standard of living for these poverty stricken communities. These people lack the basic opportunities and commodities that they truly deserve. I do not wish to impose my cultural views on them by any means, but I do wish to help eradicate the basic issues of poverty. The more I see less developed nations, the more necessary I feel it is for me to do something to help. Feeling so attached to the problems that the developing world face, it is hard for me to look at poverty as just a statistic.

This fellowship also taught me about the need to provide sustainable solutions to problems of poverty. Though foreign aid can help, it can also be mismanaged, used inefficiently, or placed in the hands of corrupt government officials. However, managing foreign aid correctly and using it to fund efficient NGOs and social enterprises can play a crucial role in solving the world’s problems. Rags2Riches, as well as many of the other social enterprises I learned about, proved to me that helping the poor help themselves is the best way to bring an end to poverty. Rags2Riches not only employed artisans with good salaries, but they also showed them how to save their money to spend on health care, education, and other useful commodities. The idea of giving a man or woman a fish versus teaching him or her how to fish significantly applies to social entrepreneurship. How much longer can the United States simply give away its fish, or in reality why should it only do that?

Though I do not see myself working directly for a social enterprise, I do not necessarily think that I will avoid them altogether. Unfortunately, my career goals do not include working in this field due to a few factors. First, I do desire to make a bit more money than a social enterprise would allow me to. I realize that this is somewhat selfish, but I cannot refuse to care for my own needs as well. Santa Clara has cost me in the form of student loans, and those are a priority for me right now. Second, I believe that I could better use my skills to help combat poverty in other ways. I am somebody who enjoys conducting research and working in policy, and I feel that I could use these skills in working for the US government. Finally, I truly do desire to work for either the government or an IGO, this has been my calling for a while now and I want to do everything I can to make this happen.

Becoming socially engaged in a community you seek to help is vital to understanding the problems they face. Poverty is not a one size fits all solution, rather each case is unique in its own way and must be addressed as so. It would be hard for me to say that I could do this by working for the government, but it would also be a lie to say that I could not work with NGOs and social enterprises that do this by pursuing this career field. I believe that my research and analytical skills gained from studying political science could be used help dictate policy and allocate funds towards projects aimed at alleviating poverty. Helping those who are disadvantaged really is something I want to be able to do again in my life, but what outlet I chose to do this through is not certainly clear to me yet.

This fellowship helped remind me that I want to work internationally. Furthermore, it gave me a personal connection to poverty. I have always lived a comfortable life, and given the resources I have available to me, I feel that it is necessary for me to help those less fortunate. That is why I have decided that I am going to move to D.C. this upcoming summer to find a job working for an NGO or government agency. This may not bring me direct involvement in working with poverty, but I believe it is a fundamental step towards me making that happen. I also have realized that the government agencies I want to work for in the future favor those with Master’s degrees, so it will take me some time before I can start working in the career that I want. My plan as of now is to gain work experience, then head to graduate school, and finally apply for a few government agencies that I feel I could help me become involved in international poverty again.

Though I could continue to go on about how this fellowship made me want to help solve poverty, I think it also had an impact on me in numerous other ways. About a year ago, I had not really thought about my future and did not take it very seriously. I did what I could to get by in school, and kept my options very open. This fellowship appealed to me because I knew it would give me more experience in a field that I thought was very rewarding. However, I never fully understood how serious the nine-month commitment I agreed to really would be. As soon as class in the spring began, I realized that I had a long journey ahead of me.

The work I did in the spring was very challenging, but it also got me very excited for what I would be doing in the Philippines with Rags2Riches. I also learned a great deal about poverty in general and what important steps social entrepreneurship has taken towards finding solutions. At the time I thought that it was really awesome that were people out there that were that inspiring, but that that could never be me. Though I still don’t believe that I wish to be a social entrepreneur, I do feel that I can help the world in other similar ways.

I was so excited to finally get to Manila and begin directly working with the enterprise. I had been giving a detailed schedule of what we would be doing with our time in the Philippines, and could not be more excited to finally implement it. However, I had no clue that what I would take most from this experience would be what I learned upon visiting the communities. As I have discussed before, seeing how terrible the living conditions of the poor were in the Philippines left a huge impact on me. Beyond feeling the need to help, this experience also caused me to reflect upon my own life. How lucky was I to be able to embark on such an adventure to go to a country so vastly different than my own? In fact, it wasn’t even the first time I was able to do this! But, in reality, it was because I was the one from the US that I was able to do this. I was the person who had been able to live such a comfortable life with so much support to allow me to pursue whatever I truly desired. These people living in poverty in Manila would probably never get to travel outside of the Philippines, or maybe not even the city. They were too concerned with helping their children escape poverty, or trying to get by on a daily basis to focus on much else. Seeing this reality, it made me realize that I have an obligation to myself to make the best of my life. I could not do this by merely getting by in school, refusing to think about my future, or simply just not caring all that much about what I had and what I could have.

Overall, this fellowship changed me for the better. I was able to constantly learn from my surroundings in a very unique way. Yet, the largest impact it had on me was that I had to work for whatever I wanted in life. I’m been so lucky to have been born into a life where I haven’t been denied from so many opportunities, and it would truly be a waste for me to not acknowledge that. This fellowship taught me to be motivated, and that I have the ability to do anything if I work hard enough. My career goals will not be easy to reach, but I am ready to sacrifice whatever it takes to make them a reality. I am not so sure I would have had this realization had I stayed in California this summer and worked some mediocre job. This truly has been the experience of a lifetime, and I know that it will propel me forward to wherever I want to be.