Hello from Washington, DC!

by Lindsay J. Priefert | Views: 1059

My name is Lindsay Priefert and I am a junior at Nebraska Wesleyan University.  I am also a FIRST Project volunteer.  My relationship with FIRST Project started last spring.  The majority of my work has involved being an English tutor for a client, although I hope to become more involved when I get back to Lincoln.  At Wesleyan I am studying a combination of psychology, political science and communication; my liberal arts inspired education has fostered my many interests and motivated me to study in different fields and discover the many ways they are connected.  

One way I have chosen to explore this connection is through Wesleyan's Capitol Hill Internship Program (CHIP). This program has given me the opportunity to live in Washington DC for the spring semester and to experience an internship with Amnesty International, USA.  The program also involves two classes; one focused on our experience in Washington through speakers and field trips, and the other is titled Political Communication, which looks at the relationship between politics and politicians, journalist and the media, among other topics.  This program has given me the opportunity to put my passion for human rights into action.  As Amnesty's new executive director Larry Cox said the other day in a staff meeting, "You can either yell at the newspaper every morning, or you can get up and do something." I guess I was getting tired of yelling at the paper every morning.  As a result, I am living in Washington DC, surrounded by other passionate interns, and loving every minute. 

Given my career interests in nonprofit management and human rights, my internship with Amnesty has been a perfect fit.  During my first week at work, the interns were given the opportunity to participate in a photo shoot to launch Amnesty's "Tell the Truth about Torture Mr. President" Campaign.  The campaign involved a mobile billboard, which was our message on the side of a truck that drove around DC for the weeks leading up to the State of the Union.  Since the President chose not to tell the truth about torture that night, this campaign still has a lot of work to do.  Among other things, Amnesty wants people held accountable for any abuses they were involved with, and they want an independent commission to research these abuses.  There is a lot that we can do to help too, and the Amnesty website (www.amnestyusa.org) is a great place to research ways to get involved. 

The majority of my work is with the Country Specialist Program.  This is a program made up of volunteer country experts and strategists.  These specialists, who are usually responsible for one to three countries, serve as a resource person for Amnesty in order to improve the human rights situation in a particular country or region.  They do this by monitoring human rights activity in their country, by serving as Amnesty's link to the regional team at the International Secretariat (the headquarters, located in London), and by developing and overseeing the implementation of country strategies.  Within this program, I have several responsibilities which include finding effective recruitment outlets and sending recruitment materials, managing country specialist applications from first inquiry to acceptance or rejection, coordinating communication among country specialists, and attending country specific meetings in DC and reporting back to country specialists.  I serve as the country specialist assistant for Africa, the Middle East, the European Union, Balkans and Turkey. 

As a result of being involved with this program, I have a better understanding of the human rights situation in the specific countries that I cover, and the strategies Amnesty uses to fight these injustices.  I am also learning about the importance of recruiting quality volunteers to fight for the cause, and creative ways to mobilize our membership.  This experience is really helping me explore the career possibility of nonprofit management, and helping me decide if a career as a professional helper is something that is right for me. 

So far it feels like a perfect fit.

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FIRST Project
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