Intern in Geneva with UN Peace Corps

By Laine Walters

I adjust the translation headset to channel two, the frequency that allows me to hear English regardless of the speaker's language. Several small countries offered up a total of 10.5 million at this morning's conference for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees from the Far East (UNRWA). "Substantial contributions" are pending from the U. S. and the European Union.

"It is to [the work of the U.N. in Geneva] that literally several billion people in the world owe their lives. For all their shortfalls, the various U.N. projects are the single most significant contribution to that world," said my mentor Robert James Parsons, expatriate and reporter for Le Courrier, the last independent daily in Switzerland.

I first received an e-mail from Parsons over a year ago through a Society of Professional Journalists listserve. He was looking for American journalism interns. My writing and career goals impressed him. Instead of merely serving as Parson's intern and press auxiliary, I sought professional journalism accreditation from the Tacoma News Tribune, my local newspaper. The senior editor was easy to persuade. So I left for Geneva with a 2-sentence letter of endorsement that allowed me to tune into a world so few are able to hear. The initiative on gaining accreditation showed my commitment. My college newspaper would not have been acceptable accreditation for the U.N. public information office.

Journalism is all about storytelling angles, and mine, at least initially, is my location. A byline from Geneva gives me an advantage because of the dearth of reporting on the U.N. found in the U.S.

To support my stay I was fortunate to receive a grant offered each year by my university to explore international opportunities. The school offers students and faculty grants for various unique international opportunities. I also received a grant for vocational exploration from my school's branch of the Wild Hope Project of the Lilly Endowment. These two grants provided enough funding to stay six weeks.

For More Info

Many schools offer student research grants for international studies. The web sites for The Lilly Endowment are www.lillyendowment.org/theendowment.html and www.plu.edu/~wildhope/summary and questions.htm. Robert James Parsons belongs to ACANU, a press club that provides the facilities for reporters to do their work: www.mypage.bluewin.ch/a-z/acanu/. I met Parsons through a professional organization I belong to called the Society of Professional Journalists at www.spj.org.

Laine Walters is a senior at Pacific Lutheran Univ. in Tacoma, WA.