Reflections on my 2-month summer internship with SportImpact in Timor-Leste

Hello!

I am Clarissa, and I recently completed my 2-month summer internship with SportImpact in Timor-Leste. This entry serves as a reflection of my experiences and thoughts about work and life in general in Timor-Leste.

As a first year liberal arts student, I yearned for a challenging experience in a completely foreign culture, to immerse myself in a world very different from Singapore and to better understand the social sector. The unique concept of sport for human development piqued my interest and I jumped on board to understand the extent of impact this model could have in Timor-Leste. I arrived with almost no expectations of the country, but I assumed to work in stable environment, with specific products to deliver at the end of 2 months, realistic in a regular internship. I soon learnt that Timor-Leste is far from the regular country and my expectations of work were challenged. On hindsight, it was naïve to think that implementers like SportImpact could be insulated from the volatile external environment.

I remember the disappointment when the pace of development of the women’s commission turned out to be different from what I envisioned. Thus, we started brainstorming ideas for me to add value to the sport system in my capacity. I had to reshape my expectations to an expanded scope of work and profile of people engaged, and the areas I worked on eventually branched out in various directions from NGO engagement, media awareness, research on international federations to pushing for the start of a women’s commission.
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While I constantly questioned the value of my contributions, further challenged by my local language inadequacies, I was introduced to a different perspective. Social impact may not manifest in the form of a deliverable after two months. More often, daily interactions with the locals on sport and human development can carry unquantifiable, but significant influence. Personally, the process of reaching that understanding probably was the most frustrating yet enlightening part of the journey.

I must say that the team at SportImpact has been nothing short of passionate, helpful and inspiring throughout the entire internship, always being approachable for tetun translation or a simple chat on the theory of change over pao de deus near the office. The casual yet focused atmosphere creates a conducive environment for ideas to flourish, offers agency in exploring new avenues to produce impact and much fun along the way.

My internship experience would not be complete without mentioning my post work experience too, which also had a great influence on the way I enjoyed my work. Being in an unfamiliar, volatile environment perhaps brought out the adventurer within me. Be it climbing Mt Ramelau, (with the SportImpact team) travelling out to the districts, riding in a microlet, trivia nights, morning runs along the beach, I realized that Timor-Leste can be as exciting as you want it to be. Of course, keeping an open mind to a slower pace of life and a different culture from our own was instrumental in helping me to adapt to the change in lifestyle.

While I am not yet able to fully articulate the extent of impact these experiences have had on me, I feel a change, and I am sure this summer internship will influence the way I approach different people, immerse myself in foreign cultures, perceive different working styles and environments in the future. I must add that a SportImpact internship is a great fit for people looking for any kind of challenge. It certainly offered me a meaningful two months, very supportive colleagues, in an exciting country with huge potential for growth and change!