Twelve thousand kilometers from home, one hundred forty of Ram’s meals, fifty-six nights of sleep, five village visits, two daily masala chais, and one once-in-a-lifetime stay in India. This is a peek into my experience as a Borlaug-Ruan Intern in Gurugram, India at the S M Sehgal Foundation.
However, I find it impossible to encapsulate the rich learnings, experiences, and growth I’ve had here solely through numbers. Likewise, as my internship comes to a close, I feel the pressure of collecting these moments and stories that spill out over post-it notes, notebook margins, and voice messages I’ve sent back home to try and shove them into three to four sentences for a resume or a new section on my LinkedIn profile. These carefully crafted sentences, book-ended with active verbs and big numbers, are supposed to encapsulate all the skills, accomplishments, and activities I’ve developed and undertaken here over eight weeks. They read along the lines of look at what I did, or in a nutshell: me, me, me, and me.
Yet, reflecting on my experiences at the foundation and the learnings I acquired along the way, one of my biggest lessons has been that this work isn’t centered around me. Actually, it’s barely about me. Instead, it’s much, much, MUCH bigger than myself.
All the conversations, interactions, and experiences I’ve had here, whether sitting crisscrossed on a vibrant purple charpai (a traditional woven bed) during an interview with a rural household or scraping off the last bites of yogurt in the dim lighting of the cafeteria long after the start of dinner, have taught me to de-center myself from my work in the climate, food systems, and nonprofit sector. These experiences and lessons didn’t happen for me to merely lengthen my CV and casually mention during future interviews. In the face of the threats overwhelming our ecological, social, and political spheres, and the humanity of every person I’ve met along this journey, how can I merely approach this work as a means to an end for my self-interests? This work is part of something much bigger than every one of us. Challenging ongoing existential threats to our climate and communities around the world requires the collective courage and action of millions aligning themselves with this greater purpose and mission that carries implications for millions, if not billions, of more humans to come.
No matter how many accolades, work experiences, or skills I was to acquire over a lifetime, what’s the point of it all if I fail to leave this world even marginally better than when I entered it?
Without undermining the difference that one person can make by disrupting the status quo and mobilizing people to action, this work does not merely comprise the efforts of a few and cannot be done alone. Everyone is part of the solution, whether through individual actions (e.g. reducing fast fashion purchases and red meat consumption) or industry-specific work at the global level. What’s more, the needs and voices of the communities at the frontlines of these global threats (e.g. Indigenous people, smallholder farmers in the Global South, etc.), must be centered in these solutions, as they are the ones facing the burden of centuries of ecological desecration and unjust economic policies from the Global North.
I do not intend to shame people for approaching their professional development without feeling connected to one of these major global issues. I recognize that for many people, it’s hard enough to get by, let alone take care of a family, pay for healthcare, and make time for personal downtime (among many other responsibilities), no matter where they live in the world, and choosing a career path that perfectly aligns with their moral values or personal callings simply isn’t feasible. Regardless of someone’s field of interest, I believe there is always a greater social cause or purpose they can anchor in their work and professional relationships, whether women empowerment or mental health, at any scale. Similarly, I recognize my immense privilege in choosing to commit to a lifetime of work and experiences in the climate and food sectors, rather than waking up to a harsh reality marked by blistering heat and food scarcity that I didn’t choose for myself and my family.
With this in mind, I’m curious to learn how to find a balance between all the different variables and factors that go into choosing a career and navigating my professional journey. I want to ground my career and professional development in the values of equity, justice, compassion, empowerment, and community, aligning with the global movement to transform our food systems for ecological harmony, human health, and global equity. I’m certainly not perfect by any means and my journey has just begun; I’m eager to grow through my different experiences and lessons from people I meet along the way. By approaching my professional development through these values even more intentionally and harnessing the ongoing courage and resilience of global communities already engaged in this work, I feel empowered to take on new opportunities and push my limits: this is for us, not just me. I’m excited to share what I learned with my fellow Borlaug-Ruan Interns, classmates, friends, and anyone interested in learning more, because while change at all levels requires the action of many, it starts with a spark. While these global issues are bigger than any one of us, every single one of our voices, perspectives, and contributions matters.
Long after I depart from the foundation in two weeks, I want to remember what it feels like to giggle with mothers and their children in the villages, listen to my co-interns’ hopes for the world and their communities over lunch, and sit in a boardroom of the foundation’s staff that crackles with passion and a unified vision towards rural development. People — plural — are at the core of this work in food security and climate change. It’s about we, not me.
