My name is Camila Melgar-Zubieta, and I am a third-year Sociology student at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ with minors in Hispanic Studies and Gender, Social Justice, and Feminist Studies. During the summer of 2023, I had the incredible opportunity of interning remotely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Guatemala as a Resettlement intern. I am extremely grateful to Mr. George Currie and the McDonald Currie Fund for supporting me in this internship.
UNHCR Guatemala is an organization that works with refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced persons to protect and assist them. They work to ensure that these people get the support they need after being forced to flee their home countries due to conflict, persecution, or other violence. The Resettlement unit, which I interned for, provides the solution of resettling refugees to a third country from Guatemala. At the unit, we work by conducting resettlement interviews with refugees and asylum seekers in Guatemala, while also keeping updated information on the conditions in various Latin American countries, such as Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, and others.
As a Resettlement intern, I gained knowledge on the refugee crisis and used my skills in Spanish to understand these situations from first-hand accounts. I wrote Country of Origin Information (COI) reports for a variety of Latin American countries and used my research skills to dive deep into the political, social, and economic climates of each country. These reports help UNHCR better understand refugees’ situations and be able to come up with effective solutions for each of them.
Additionally, what impacted me the most during this internship was interviewing candidates for the resettlement program. Using a third phone line through the help of UNHCR, I was able to make calls to refugees in Guatemala from my home and conduct preliminary interviews to better understand their struggles and determine whether or not they would be a good candidate for the resettlement program. I listened to countless accounts of hardship by people and families from all walks of life, and hearing their stories deeply impacted me for the rest of my life. Connecting with them using my second language while giving them someone to talk to in their situations was a unique experience that I would not have gotten anywhere else.
Lastly, the chance to work on my communication skills in Spanish while conducting this work was an remarkable opportunity. I listened to different dialects from all over Latin America and I was able to improve and refine my skills with each call. Every call was unique, so being able to adjust to each person and conversation was a challenge at first but became easier and more fluid as the internship went on. This kind of exposure was such an incredible learning opportunity that extended and complemented to academic work I have been doing at McGill.
Working remotely was a big challenge at first. I had to learn how to structure my time on my own and limit distractions when I worked from home. I made sure to keep an agenda for each task I had to complete each week in order to stay organized. I also created my own workspace in my house to make it feel like I had a desk in a workplace. Taking breaks was also essential, but I had to make sure I was only stopping for a limited amount of time. Lastly, my supervisor had weekly meetings with me to debrief on my work and to see if I needed any help with any of my tasks. In the end, structure is the key to making a remote internship successful, while also making sure you communicate with those around you about your progress and your struggles.
I am so fortunate to have had this opportunity this past summer. I learned so much through the work I conducted and from those around me in the Resettlement unit. This internship was not easy, and it helped me learn how to adjust to new challenges and communicate when I needed help. This was an unparalleled experience that will stay with me forever.
Thank you to the founders of the McDonald Currie Fund and to Mr. George Currie for your generous support in my internship and making this experience possible!
