knowledge vs. purpose

“Knowing is not enough, we must apply.  Willing is not enough, we must do.” - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 I have been having my internship for one week now in Amnesty International here in the Philippines.  I would just like to say that it is not what I expected it to be.  I chose to do my internship in AI because I want to help the society, directly helping the society.  I wanted to be invovled.  What was I expecting when I joined?  I expected social interactions and demographic studies so as that I, along with a team, would be able to create plans and projects that would help the society and the specific sector.  I did not realize that what this organization does is helping the society indirectly, through campaigns and press releases.

Don’t get me wrong, I like what they do.  I like protecting human rights and it is actually important for the society to know what is happening so that they would be aware.  But coming from my perspective and experiences from my organization, it is simply not just awareness.  It is important that there is action.  Maybe campaigns offer people to really act on it, but I think it is better to offer a venue where interaction is possible.  There should be direct interaction so that you can see whether people are really acting upon the knowledge because of the campaigns.

I haven’t been here long enough to say whether or not there is direct involvement going on so I would stop commenting at this moment.

In other news, planning and working stage for my organization next year is under way.  Things are happening so fast that is quite difficult to grasps and take not of things already.