To provide a brief introduction, I am a Political Science major and am going into my second year at Â鶹AV. I have always been interested in conservation and have wanted to involve myself in it. This has taken the form of running bottle drives and starting a garden in high school. This interest is what led me to take on an internship with the South Rift Association of Landowners (SORALO).
SORALO is a conservation organization that works to ensure the integrity of the South Rift of Kenya for the benefit of the local communities and its wildlife (of which many are endangered). I was drawn to SORALO because of its determination in seeing the success of not just the wildlife but the local Maasai communities. Everything SORALO does helps the wildlife as well as the locals by offering economic opportunities, land management systems, and information on the South Rift landscape. This aspect of SORALO is what made the internship so exciting for me as SORALO’s focus on making conservation work for everyone is an ambitious goal.
My internship was structured so that my fellow intern Reiko and I were given tasks bi-weekly on different aspects of the wildlife-ranger program. These tasks were assigned by our supervisor Guy Western who had constructed well thought-out and challenging tasks for us. Guy also ensured that we had everything we needed to complete them in the required time. On the scheduled deadline, Reiko and I would then present our work to the SORALO team and they would provide considerate feedback. Some examples of the tasks we took on were data analysis of the wildlife rangers, recreating the spreadsheets for data recording, and presenting a research proposal for a qualitative analysis of how the rangers could be more efficient. All of these tasks expanded my understanding of the work involved in conservation and were great learning experiences.
The task I enjoyed the most was analyzing the data rangers had collected from previous years. Making insights into different trends in the data was thrilling since Reiko and I were the first to look into it. We would compare our findings over Zoom and discuss what we thought was causing the patterns. These were always stimulating conversations and made for a wonderful experience that deepened my understanding of data analysis.
Reiko and I encountered challenges in the tasks we were given. For example, we found problems with missing data that rangers had failed to record. This could be frustrating as it meant we could not be sure of the conclusions we were drawing, but with time we worked on solutions to help the rangers record their data more effectively. Learning to overcome missing data and improve data recording techniques is a skill that is useful in most academic fields and I am grateful I had the chance to develop it in this internship.
Guy Western and Samantha Russell both work at SORALO and were who Reiko and I spent our internship working for. Guy and Samantha did everything they could to make us feel like a part of the team by sending us pictures and giving us tours of the buildings we would have worked in if the internship did not go online. They also spent many hours with us on meetings answering our questions on the different aspects of the organization. Guy and Sam’s commitment to giving us an experience true to the one we would have had if we were in Kenya was truly incredible. Another highlight was working as a team with Reiko on the assigned tasks. Although it could be difficult to find good times to meet due to the time difference between Canada and Japan it was worth it. Teamwork is a skill that is needed in every aspect of life and is a necessary one in any professional environment. Learning how to make the most of our different skills was always a fun experience and contributed greatly to this experience. One comical example of how we worked together was taking turns waking up early for our meetings since it was impossible to find a time convenient to all.
This internship has been my best experience through Â鶹AV so far. It has given me an understanding of how conservancies function and insight into what I would like to do for a future career. Having had the chance to experience this internship has also greatly increased my skills and my confidence. The positive impacts going forward because of this will be exponential. For this, I would like to thank the Arts Internship Office for giving me this opportunity. I would also like to thank the late Mr. Allan Hodgson for providing me with funding to complete this internship. I hope to contribute to the Arts Internship Office and SORALO in any way I can going forward to give back and show my gratitude. I would like to note that I did not receive academic credit for this internship.
