Hi there! I’m Yasmin Ibrahim, a recent Global Health and Social Medicine graduate from King’s College London. From August to October, I’ll be interning with MCF while exploring Beijing, a city I’ve only ever seen glimpses of in popular TV and film.
Having undertaken internships at other charities and NGOs in the past, some of which were insightful (and others I’m glad are in my rear view), I can admit to having some expectations of what a typical day at MCF would look like. I am delighted to have learned that, at least for me, things at MCF haven’t run with the somewhat mechanical routine that I had come to anticipate.
I could say that it’s “only” been two weeks with MCF so far, but in that short amount of time, I’ve already done and witnessed so much happening at the office and among the MCF family. It’s often been surprising work and is (in a good way!) definitely not the experience I was expecting.
Beginning on my first day at MCF, I was immediately put to task on creating several artworks to be made into flashcards and used as creative inspiration for the children in the classroom. Having never drawn anything since I was myself a child, I’ll admit to being quite nervous about creating artwork that would be equal parts playful and informative for the children to actually learn from. But, in true MCF spirit, I made an enthusiastic effort and I created artworks which (in my humble opinion) will neither frighten nor bore any children. So far, so great!
Since the school semester has recently ended, my second day at MCF had me racing via the subway to meet with the rest of the team and getting quite lost on the way) to then head to the school and organise a lot of learning resources, books and toys. This unexpected trip offered me a valuable opportunity to gain perspective about MCF’s action on the forefront of its work, as well as the sheer amount of work and resources that are required to transform MCF’s goals into action for migrant children in Beijing.
I’ve been whizzing around the web to manage the many MCF online platforms and exchanging ideas in meetings about how to manage MCF social media moving forward and what blogs are best (like this one you’re currently reading).
Finally, I’ve been working on producing a research project focused on migrant healthcare in Beijing and in wider China. It’s still early days but I’m looking forward to using it to make other materials such as research posters and infographics for members of the public to be better informed of the context behind MCF’s work.
I’ve mentioned some of the many highs I’ve already had at MCF, and there have been some rare difficult challenges (all rush-hour-traffic and tech-related). All in all, I’m currently living my best life here in Beijing, for which I partly have MCF to thank.
Until next time, I’ve been Yasmin and #ThisIsMCF!