Meet Lily, the New Intern!

Hello Everyone! My name is Lily and I am the new Development and Communications Intern with the Dos Pueblos organization.  I am truly grateful and excited for this opportunity to work with such an inspiring and welcoming team.  As the new intern, I will be working under the guidance of Lupe on many projects and activities but primarily the event planning and outreach, foundation research, and managing the social media and database sites.

I am currently a graduate student at The New School for Public Engagement pursuing my Master of Arts Degree in International Affairs with a concentration in development.  Eager to join the many New School alumni at this organization, I am hoping that I can provide any useful ideas and skills that I have learned with the Dos Pueblos community.  Apart from studying for my degree, I also work for the English Language Studies Department at the New School.  In my free time I enjoy following in my father’s footsteps by taking photos, taking in the city culture, undertaking new adventures, and travelling as much as I can.

Dos Pueblos to me, is an excellent opportunity to truly make an impact on the lives of others.  I am thrilled to work for a non-profit that is dedicated to the improvement of the living standards of the people of Nicaragua.  Personally, I feel that growth and development comes from the individual needs and wants of the people who have been greatly impacted by poverty.  Everyone deserves clean water, proper nutrition, an education, healthcare, and so forth.  These are luxuries that most of us Americans have and I feel it is my responsibility to assist those in need and lend a hand where I can.  I believe that with appropriate communication, respect, and understanding of diverse communities and cultures, our society can positively aid and improve the dire situations of others.

Many people ask me how I got interested in International Affairs and development.  I think that came from the values that my family instilled in me.  My family and I emigrated from the very poor, disorderly country of Bulgaria when I was pretty young.  Watching my parents work so hard to give me the opportunities they never had was very humbling and inspiring. They encouraged me to be respectful, compassionate of others, and to be understanding and moved by the different and beautiful cultures surrounding us.  I had the ability to travel a lot when I was younger, learning more and more about this fascinating world we live in.

Eventually, I knew that I was meant for a greater good, some way to help others.  Learning about the tragedies and hardships going on in the world really affected me.  I became very interested in conflict studies and in particular, genocide.  I was appalled and greatly moved by the atrocities occurring all over.  With the implications involved in politics, I decided the most reasonable and rewarding way to go about helping those enduring such hardship was through the development route.  And now here I am!

That’s all about me!  Thank you everyone for having me on board.  I look forward to meeting all of you at Dos Pueblos and I hope to discover more about the people of Tipitapa and their path to success and happiness.

Sincerely,

Lily