My name is Judeline Edmond from CTI.
I did an internship in Seychelles in the biggest tourism company called Creole Travel Services (CTS) during holiday. When I came back, my lecturer told me that the internship I did back there was not good and decided I should do it again. I must say I was sad at first to have to do it all over again. However, I informed CTS that I would not be able to write a report on their organisation giving them the reason for not doing so. They were surprised but they gave me a very good reference, asking for me to work in their organisation after my study.
I admit, it was hard for me to look for a job in Mauritius as I was not Mauritian and I had problem communicating verbaly as my accent was different.
With determination I phoned Amnesty International Mauritius Section(AIMS) and the Acting Director, Ms. Anne Marie Lapierre said she would be glad.
So, I am now working as Public Relations.There is no Public Relations department.Upon my first day I also managed to convince a PR student at CTI, Tavinia Naiken to work with me and she started one day after.
So far I am on my second week, I am given the task to organise concerts in different schools, towns and villages for the organisaiton based on communism. I have gone to see the musicians rehearsing so I could know what messages there are passing on in their songs. After that I had my first meeting with the members of AIMS. They told me what they wish to have in the concerts and they made sugestions as to how I should proceed.
I admit, it was hard for me to look for a job in Mauritius as I was not Mauritian and I had problem communicating verbaly as my accent was different.
With determination I phoned Amnesty International Mauritius Section(AIMS) and the Acting Director, Ms. Anne Marie Lapierre said she would be glad.
So, I am now working as Public Relations.There is no Public Relations department.Upon my first day I also managed to convince a PR student at CTI, Tavinia Naiken to work with me and she started one day after.
So far I am on my second week, I am given the task to organise concerts in different schools, towns and villages for the organisaiton based on communism. I have gone to see the musicians rehearsing so I could know what messages there are passing on in their songs. After that I had my first meeting with the members of AIMS. They told me what they wish to have in the concerts and they made sugestions as to how I should proceed.
I must admit Public Relations is very challenging, but at the same time a good experience.As we learned in our lectures that people will contact us after working hours and that we should be ready to answer them. This is true as I have experienced it, the musicians called asking questions and to clarrifying on the concerts.
So far we have sent letters to the district mayors and I have contacted them on phone to make suggestions for the concerts.
Well, I will say it is not easy as most people misperceive it to be. Public Relations is really a profession and in a way I am glad I am doing my internship again!!
I have to end here.
Will be back with some more.
So far we have sent letters to the district mayors and I have contacted them on phone to make suggestions for the concerts.
Well, I will say it is not easy as most people misperceive it to be. Public Relations is really a profession and in a way I am glad I am doing my internship again!!
I have to end here.
Will be back with some more.
3 comments:
hello Judeline,
Im really sad to hear you had to do your internship again! But take it in a positive light, since you are having double experience in the field which is quite fantastic!
working in an NGO should be great and glad also to hear you are working on concerts.
I guess you will have to move each time and this will be less boring..
Have fun at AIMS.. and do let us know how the concerts and the talks sessions are going on
sabrina
xx
Hi, Judeline
Thanks I am feeling much better now.
I am so sad you have to do your internship again. But if you take it otherwise, you will get another perspective of working in a NGO environment and its PR. Hence, you will get more experience.
I am glad that the company you were working before took the news you have to do your internship in a good way.
Communication is vital in our domain. Hence, you could and certainly have met with some language barrier as you are not Mauritian. Hope you persevere and achieve in your tasks.
Glad also, you have another person that will help you with the PR work.
I have experienced the same matter as you, as there are some journalists who have contacted me for the press conference after office hours. This is so as it was me who have contacted them.
Good luck with contacting all the mayors.
Keep us posted with what happen as I am eager to know with what happen with NGO PR stuffs in Mauritius.
Regards,
Joyce
Hi Judeline,
It's great that you're doing your internship at an NGO like Amnesty, there's a lot of challenges involved when organising their events, as you have to make sure it aligns with their very specific objectives, and then there are huge budget constraints! I'm doing some marketing and event management work for Amnesty International in Perth at the moment so I know what it's like! It's always great to know you're doing something so humanitarian though!
Amanda
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