Breakthrough – New Delhi, India Taimur Ahmad ’16 - तैमूर अहमद ‘ १६

The Work - काम  Breakthrough is an organization which fights violence against women using a mixture of media and direct, site-specific interventions  As an intern, my main job was to work on issue statements, strategy documents, and other Breakthrough materials such as proposals for funding, discussion questions for youth, and social media reports  This meant doing a lot of reading and research, as well as editing and improving existing documents

Breakthrough Logo

The Experience - अनुभाव  The best part of my work experience was knowing that the editing and writing I was doing was going straight to the copy editor for a final read and then publication  It was also great to see how an NGO really works – the word is thrown around all the time but before this summer I had never understood what it took to run a successful NGO  I feel like I learned a great deal about issues of social justice, particularly in terms of women, in India and also in the world at large. I feel much more informed and aware  I made some great friendships and connections  Getting to go out into the field to see the reality of our work was very fulfilling as well

Working in the Field

Impact on Organization - परभाव समूहे के लीए  As stated before, most of my work went directly to the publication office and will be used as either information for the general public (i.e. issue statements), or information for internal use and/or for use in proposals (i.e. strategy documents that detail Breakthrough’s plan for each of its target issues)  Since leaving I have also been informed that some blogs I wrote for the organization have been published  Some of the material I wrote to facilitate discussions amongst college aged youth have been incorporated into the curriculum

New Delhi, India

Impact on Self - परभाव मेरे लीए  Academically the trip has made me far more interested in pursuing history and South Asian studies  The work reinforced my preexisting love of sociology and anthropology, which were a big part of my average workday  Career wise, the job made me realize that, in all honesty, I do not love being behind a desk all day – I very much enjoy moving around and getting into the field  I am still interested in the NGO world but am not sure how I would want to get involved at this point

Exploring India

The Journey - सफर  Work was a big part of my time in India, but at least as important – if not more so, in truth – was exploring India, getting in touch with my own cultural heritage, practicing my Hindi and Urdu, and spending time with my Indian/Pakistani family  Me and my fellow Princeton interns traveled extensively in Delhi, and also visited Varanasi, Agra, and Jaipur  The best moments I had in India were the spontaneous, unexpected things that happened to me when exploring, like stumbling onto a Hare Krishna ceremony, dancing with street kids in a park, or adventuring in the ruined catacombs of a 15 th century mosque haunted by Djinns (genies)

Continued  It is impossible to encapsulate the full experience in a few slides, but the process of really exploring my own cultural identity as half white, half Hindustani (Indo-Pakistani) was a huge part of this trip for me as well  Making new friends and going through the inevitable hardships of traveling with them was also an amazing experience  Overall the experience was amazing and not to be missed, although after eight weeks it was definitely time to come home!

Eight Weeks in India