I got another internship!! In COSTA RICA!!!!

That's right, I'm off once again, and this time to the beautiful Central American country of Costa Rica!! It was confirmed last week that I was accepted as a Netcorps Intern for Human Resources Interent (HRI). I'm so excited to have the chance to work in a Latin American country with an organization dedicated to improving human rights. My internship in Istanbul was an amazing learning experience and I realized that I didn't want to help corporations achieve their target objectives, but rather aid inter and non governmental organizations and governmental departments overcome barriers hindering international development. I'm extremly fortunate that I have the chance to change the direction I'm heading in my career with this internship. After completing this internship, I am hoping to find work with another NGO or the government. Here's a bit of background about the job and the organizations involved in the internship.

Netcorps
The NetCorps program is funded by Industry Canada and managed by a coalition of 9 Canadian development agencies and NGO's (Alternatives, Canada World Youth, Canadian Crossroads International, Canadian Society for International Health, CUSO, Human Rights Internet, Oxfam-Quebec, VSO Canada, WUSC) The program offers information and communications techologies internships of six months in southern countries and countries in transition to Canadian youth with a background in computer technology. Guidelines and application form for the NetCorps program. -link

Human Rights Internet
Founded in 1976, HRI is a leader in the exchange of information within the worldwide human rights community. Launched in the United States, HRI has its headquarters in Ottawa, Canada. From Ottawa, HRI communicates by phone, fax, mail and the Internet with more than 5,000 organizations and individuals around the world working for the advancement of human rights.

Our Mission Statement reads as follows:

HRI is dedicated to the empowerment of human rights activists and organizations, and to the education of governmental and intergovernmental agencies and officials and other actors in the public and private sphere, on human rights issues and the role of civil society. -link

Defensa de los Ninos Internacional-Americas, San José
DNI´s mission is the promotion and defence of children and adolescents to obtain their recognition as social subjects with rights, as they are within the framework of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its protocols and all the instruments of human rights. Its vision is that children and adolescents enjoy and exercise their rights in a just and shared common society. DNI focuses its actions on promoting and defending the human rights of children and adolescents to obtain the recognition and to exercise their condition of citizenship, by means of actions that involve the joint participation of the State, of international entities and of the same civil society. DNI´s objective include working in the areas of public policy, education and communication, and social participation.

Skills required of the interm
The intern will be responsible for web site maintenance, updates, and improvements. The intern will also be encouraged to propose new design and ideas for the web site. DNI is presently trying to translate its entire web page and create an English version. The intern will be able to create and design the English Web site. Many of the documents are translated but there is no "web site" per say, to host the information. DNI uses Dream Weaver in the past for mostly everything in its Web site and a good deal of HTML. Java and other programming languages are used, but they are not required to complete required tasks: they are an extra. The intern should have basic knowledge of Spanish as a minimum.
- www.dnicostarica.org

So basically I'll be living in San Jose for five to six months from July 05-Dec. 05 doing web design for Defensa de los Ninos (Children's Defense). The program is funded by the government so expenses are covered. In one month I'll be off and I have many things to do before then. For anyone interested in doing something like this, CIDA (the Canadian International Development Agency) and Foreign Affairs offer internships on their websites under the YES (Youth Employment Strategy) Program.

Right now, I'm learning Dreamweaver and will redesign my site with it soon!

Pat Kim and Raj- Istanbul-NYC- Ottawa?

This past weekend I had an American friend I met in Istanbul come to visit, Pat Kim with his buddy Raj. They had a few days off work so decided to drive from NYC to spend a few days in the lovely north with yours truly. I was a bit troubled when Pat sent me an email saying they were into outdoorsy stuff like swimming, fishing, rafting, and going to hot springs. Ok for the first three except that it’s early May and it’s way too cold to even touch a lake with your fingertips, but where did the hot springs idea come from? Last time I checked the volcanoes were in Latin America. Well, after I dispelled those notions, I took Pat and Raj around Ottawa.

First stop, Byward market to walk around the lovely small downtown area and see the Parliament buildings. Here are a few things my friends said:

-“Man, it’s so clean here.”
-“Wow, the people are really friendly here.”
-“Yo, where are the hot chicks?”
-“Dude, the say we are patriotic with all the American flags, but everywhere you turn here there’s a maple leaf and something red and white.”
-“Look at the mix of people on the streets.”
-“Monica, you are a walking Canadian commercial.”

We went for a little drive around Dow’s Lake, but the tulips weren’t up yet for the annual Tulip Festival. In 1945, Canada planted some of the 100,000 tulip bulbs given as a gift from Holland for providing a safe place for members of the Dutch Royal Family and now it is the largest tulip festival in the world.

At night, we hit up Babylon to see the Raggamuffins- good times on the floor, Captain M in da club, "hmmm can u slow down to the beat",n hangin with Artic Vic n organic garlic girl-good times.

But the next day we got to do some more outdoorsy stuff around Gatineau park that included borrowing a kayak and going for a little ride in Meech Lake. I’m surprised we didn’t fall into the freezing water but Pat and Raj were quiet the rowers, real strong and coordinated.

It was awesome having them come up for a few days though and reminisce the Istanbul times and catch up.