I just discovered that PSI has its own YouTube channel. There are videos concerning all of the issues that we deal with, namely malaria, reproductive health, water/child survival, and HIV.
The countries that were included in the PSI definition of Southern Africa were Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. I'm not really sure why Mozambique and Namibia didn't qualify. But they didn't. The PSI YouTube page doesn't have many videos up dealing with these countries, but there are a few TV spots for Zambia and a cool video of Ashley Judd (who is on the board of directors) and Sally Cowal, our Senior Vice President, demonstrating PSI's point-of-use water purification products to Madeleine Albright. There's also a video narrated by Ashley Judd that looks at our HIV programs in India, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia. I think it gives a pretty good overview of the kind of work that we do, plus it focuses on one of the countries that I did so much paperwork for.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Summing It All Up
I didn't meet the head of the Southern Africa department until my very last day at PSI. When I did, he asked me what I had learned over the past two months. I looked at him, and smiled, and said "Scanning." He laughed, I laughed, my site supervisor laughed.
In a sense, this was a very true statement - I did a lot of PDF scanning during my time at PSI. It was not exactly the bane of my existence, but I had been warned that being an unpaid intern at a nonprofit might merit this kind of work - and it was true. I scanned, I copied, I printed, I stapled, I made reservations for company bowling parties, I emailed, I fact-checked spread sheets, I drank free V8 from the company vending machines, and I ran one errand to Staples. I never had to fax anything (thank God). I was not by any means a necessary cog in the PSI machine, but every so often I helped make the organization run a little bit more smoothly, and when this happened I was aware of it. Even if that just meant making sure that someone's ergonomic keyboard had the right adapter.
I never had a formal orientation or any kind of training at PSI. This made for a situation in which I was really learning things as I went along. I didn't know the PSI acronyms, I didn't know where the media room was, I didn't know what projects we were working on, I didn't know what the term "private sector" meant (I'm still not sure that I could operationally define private sector, but I'm really good at saying "PSI works to find private sector solutions to health problems in the developing world..."). Everything at PSI was totally new to me - the entire world of nonprofits was new to me. I was happy to be at the office, and I felt that the office was happy to have me. I rarely found myself wondering when I got to go home, or why I was given such crap work to do, but I did feel like I was learning to walk and learning to run at the same time.
In the end, though, I got it down. I knew where the media room was, I knew how to scan a Brazilian passport, I knew how to access whatever computer file I had to access, I knew the acronyms, and I could sit through a brown bag lunch and understand (most of) what was going on. It's hard to articulate how a set of office skills is really in any way a helpful thing to have gained from my time at PSI - after all, becoming a good scanner wasn't exactly the goal of this endeavor - but scanning a document that proves that the Gates Foundation gave the organization that you intern for $4 million can sometimes be a really good thing.
In a sense, this was a very true statement - I did a lot of PDF scanning during my time at PSI. It was not exactly the bane of my existence, but I had been warned that being an unpaid intern at a nonprofit might merit this kind of work - and it was true. I scanned, I copied, I printed, I stapled, I made reservations for company bowling parties, I emailed, I fact-checked spread sheets, I drank free V8 from the company vending machines, and I ran one errand to Staples. I never had to fax anything (thank God). I was not by any means a necessary cog in the PSI machine, but every so often I helped make the organization run a little bit more smoothly, and when this happened I was aware of it. Even if that just meant making sure that someone's ergonomic keyboard had the right adapter.
I never had a formal orientation or any kind of training at PSI. This made for a situation in which I was really learning things as I went along. I didn't know the PSI acronyms, I didn't know where the media room was, I didn't know what projects we were working on, I didn't know what the term "private sector" meant (I'm still not sure that I could operationally define private sector, but I'm really good at saying "PSI works to find private sector solutions to health problems in the developing world..."). Everything at PSI was totally new to me - the entire world of nonprofits was new to me. I was happy to be at the office, and I felt that the office was happy to have me. I rarely found myself wondering when I got to go home, or why I was given such crap work to do, but I did feel like I was learning to walk and learning to run at the same time.
In the end, though, I got it down. I knew where the media room was, I knew how to scan a Brazilian passport, I knew how to access whatever computer file I had to access, I knew the acronyms, and I could sit through a brown bag lunch and understand (most of) what was going on. It's hard to articulate how a set of office skills is really in any way a helpful thing to have gained from my time at PSI - after all, becoming a good scanner wasn't exactly the goal of this endeavor - but scanning a document that proves that the Gates Foundation gave the organization that you intern for $4 million can sometimes be a really good thing.
What Might Have Been: The Lunch Blog
Even though I was not a fan of waking up early, commuting, or dressing in business-casual attire, I have to say, I'm kind of going to miss PSI. At first I thought that being the Southern Africa intern would mean that I'd adjust to waking up early (never happened), that I'd be impeccably dressed every week (didn't exactly happen), and that I'd eat really interesting lunches at different downtown locations every week. I had planned on keeping a running tab of my lunch adventures on this blog, with mini-reviews and pictures of the interesting food I'd eaten. Clearly, this never really happened. Here's why: (Mostly the why is just because I never took pictures/ate at interesting places/ate lunch at all.)
On my first day, my site supervisor took me out to lunch at Corner Table and I ate spaghetti carbonara. It was okay. There are no pictures.
My second week at PSI I went to Greek Deli for lunch. This place was literally next door to PSI and was totally famous in a secret, downtown, kind of way. There are a lot of things I could say about this place. Mostly, the food made me feel like I had to take a nap.
On my first day, my site supervisor took me out to lunch at Corner Table and I ate spaghetti carbonara. It was okay. There are no pictures.
My second week at PSI I went to Greek Deli for lunch. This place was literally next door to PSI and was totally famous in a secret, downtown, kind of way. There are a lot of things I could say about this place. Mostly, the food made me feel like I had to take a nap.
My third week at PSI I went to a brown bag lunch presentation on malaria in southern Sudan. Seeing as I hadn't packed a brown bag lunch, I didn't eat one. I drank a lot of V8 that day. Drinks from the vending machines were free, which was awesome.
My fourth week at PSI I grabbed a grilled cheese sandwich from Cosi for lunch. No one wants to see a picture of that.
My fifth week at PSI was the day after election day. I went to a brown bag lunch presentation on point of use water programs in Ethiopia. Everyone was too elated to care that after that a friend came and met me at the office to go to Greek Deli.
During my last two weeks at PSI I didn't leave my desk to eat lunch. So, the fun internship lunch blog never happened. Oh well.
My fourth week at PSI I grabbed a grilled cheese sandwich from Cosi for lunch. No one wants to see a picture of that.
My fifth week at PSI was the day after election day. I went to a brown bag lunch presentation on point of use water programs in Ethiopia. Everyone was too elated to care that after that a friend came and met me at the office to go to Greek Deli.
During my last two weeks at PSI I didn't leave my desk to eat lunch. So, the fun internship lunch blog never happened. Oh well.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Day 7/The End
Just finished my last day at PSI. I garnished it with a spreadsheet made in Microsoft Visio. I will do a reflective post in summation of my experiences (or perhaps more than one - many and learned as they have been) after I decompress.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Day 6
I have spent almost all of today fooling around in PowerPoint trying to make a new Southern Africa Organizational Chart. PC's aren't cut out for these kinds of tasks. They just aren't. I'm proud to announce that the Southern Africa Department won best group costume during the office Halloween party. I'm not really sure what we were, but the pictures are incriminating.
Anyway, I've spent 5 hours trying to figure out who's who on the ex-pat hierarchy of PSI. Can't talk. Am in hell.
Anyway, I've spent 5 hours trying to figure out who's who on the ex-pat hierarchy of PSI. Can't talk. Am in hell.
Day 6 Nubbin
George Bush is going to spend the last 68 days of his presidency spying on me. No, really, he is. Rachel Maddow told me. Let me further evidence this story by telling you that when I got to work this morning ther were emails waiting on my computer. From the future.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Day 5
The office was empty when I got here this morning, so I left a note on my boss's desk that said "Hi Townley. I'm here. No one is in their office so I'm going to sit and enjoy my hot cocoa - and Obama's victory." One might argue that reading The Bell Jar (which I'm doing of my own accord, believe it or not) is not quite celebratory behavior, but I enjoyed starting the day with Sylvia Plath and a Grande Hazlenut Signature Hot Chocolate (they have the Christmast cups out at Starbucks, you know what that means) rather than being thrust immediately into the media room with a pile of documents to PDF.
The general attitude in the office has been one of relief. There has been lots of election discussion, lots of hugging and high-fiving, and thank-Godding. That said, an office wide email was sent out this morning reminding us all that "George Bush remains President until January 20, 2009. His Administration and its policies remain the USG operating environment for us until then... It's worth remembering that, overall, USG resources have allowed us to do great things over the past eight years. We may welcome this election for personal or policy-related reasons, but PSI is nonpartisan." In the midst of the excitement that's sweeping DC - the excitement that kept many of us up past our bedtimes last night - it's important to keep these facts in mind. Even if I did roll my eyes a little.
I was sent on my first PSI errand today - down the block to Staples to find an adapter for an ergonomic keyboard that Luke (the aforementioned Mr. Zambia/Zimbabwe) insisted he needed. I was trusted with the PSI Staples credit card, and tax-exempt card, and discount card. Big stuff.
I also attended another brown-bag lunch. This one was a presentation by Henock Gezahegn, the Director of Marketing and Technical Services for PSI Ethiopia. I'll be honest - a lot of the talk went completely over my head. The focus of the presentation was "exploring the Total Market Approach for sustainability of Point of Use water programs." I recognized some of the names of the water purification products that we market, but beyond that, I felt like I'd need a business degree in order to understand the rest. The PSI website breaks down our work on safe water in a more accessible way, and I might have done well to read this explanation of PSI Ethiopia before attending the talk.
Now that I'm finally comfortable in the office, I realize that it's talks like the one Henock gave that help to put PSI in perspective on the global scale. The work that this organization does is huge. It really is. I'm so happy to have the chance to be a part of it, even if some days my biggest responsibility is emailing an ex-pat in Zambia to ask for her cell number so we can update our personnel records.
The general attitude in the office has been one of relief. There has been lots of election discussion, lots of hugging and high-fiving, and thank-Godding. That said, an office wide email was sent out this morning reminding us all that "George Bush remains President until January 20, 2009. His Administration and its policies remain the USG operating environment for us until then... It's worth remembering that, overall, USG resources have allowed us to do great things over the past eight years. We may welcome this election for personal or policy-related reasons, but PSI is nonpartisan." In the midst of the excitement that's sweeping DC - the excitement that kept many of us up past our bedtimes last night - it's important to keep these facts in mind. Even if I did roll my eyes a little.
I was sent on my first PSI errand today - down the block to Staples to find an adapter for an ergonomic keyboard that Luke (the aforementioned Mr. Zambia/Zimbabwe) insisted he needed. I was trusted with the PSI Staples credit card, and tax-exempt card, and discount card. Big stuff.
I also attended another brown-bag lunch. This one was a presentation by Henock Gezahegn, the Director of Marketing and Technical Services for PSI Ethiopia. I'll be honest - a lot of the talk went completely over my head. The focus of the presentation was "exploring the Total Market Approach for sustainability of Point of Use water programs." I recognized some of the names of the water purification products that we market, but beyond that, I felt like I'd need a business degree in order to understand the rest. The PSI website breaks down our work on safe water in a more accessible way, and I might have done well to read this explanation of PSI Ethiopia before attending the talk.
Now that I'm finally comfortable in the office, I realize that it's talks like the one Henock gave that help to put PSI in perspective on the global scale. The work that this organization does is huge. It really is. I'm so happy to have the chance to be a part of it, even if some days my biggest responsibility is emailing an ex-pat in Zambia to ask for her cell number so we can update our personnel records.
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