Meet Blessing, She was our first Intern!
Blessing joined Samaritana Gambia’s Preventative Ministry and combined it with her own Ministry called Girls’ Pride Foundation.
Blessing finished her Internship in June of 2018 year and is now fulltime in the community in her own ministry.
Since then we have taken on 4 new Interns, 1 in Entrepreneurship, 1 in Guardianship, 1 in School Mentoring and 2 in Child Advocacy
What type of other Internships are there in Samritana?
There are up to 6 Basic Internships available with us at any one time:
- A Days for Girls Internship: This involves learning all the ropes about how ro make our Recyclable Sanitary kits that will last 3 years. It will involve starting from simple stitch sewing through to balancing the books, and after, you will conquer the challenge of selling what you make online and i the community through presentations in schools etc
- Another Youth Workers Internship: This means being being partner in the schools and doing Written Units.
- A Coordinator’s Internship: This is a “fun” assignment: Full time, 1 year commitment: Understudying both Directors.
- An IT and Publicity Internship: Not just computer work! We need someone who can design, produce, print, develop, teach IT as an occupational therapy; promote, and respond to a higher profile Samaritana Gambia’s website.
- An Entrepreneur Internship: [This is on hold at the moment until we are able to confirm our location]We have some possible schemes we want to get developed: Your job will be to make them happen, thus providing Occupational therapy for those we serve.
- Child Advocacy: We not only uncover abuse but we rescue, and then advocate for the survivor, chasing police, getting hard evidence, ,akig sure it gets through the quicksand of the prosecution office, into court, where we appear with the survivors
What are the requirements for an Intern position?
It’s a faith journey. That normally in itself can be challenging.
If you are a local you will probably get a stipend depending on how you trial period goes.
If you are from outside the country, You MAY need to fund yourself and trust our Heavenly Father for any necessary income.
Are you prepared to do that? This requires lots of adaptation and finally, flexibility! Parallel to white water rafting!
You MUST be passionate, adaptable, flexible and a shining example of Breaking the Culture of Silence that grips this country, so you wouldn’t keep silent in our Team discussions.
You will need to have a servant heart, and a listening ear and a willingness to allow us to speak into your heart.
You can be aged anywhere from 18 to 80 and able to adapt to warm temperatures and very different cultures, if you are not from Africa.
If you have a Health or other Disability, you are ofcourse most welcome to apply as we recently took on an Intern with polio.
Please note, In some circumstances we may be looking only for a female Intern.
For Expat Interns, being Self funded is the normal requirement at Samaritana. You would need an approximate personal monthly budget of about 180 Pounds; about 200 Euros; or about 220 USD. This will cover all your necessities, including rest breaks, recreation and eating out. It will also cover most medical needs, transport and local clothing.
Because accommodation will probably be provided as well as some meals, a modest board figure might be requested each month from that budget.
(A lot will depend on exchange rates which can fluctuate a lot, additionally your personal tastes in lifestyle will be a deciding factor: It’s hard to adapt to the fact that you, in 1 meal will often easily eat 2 weeks salary of the waiter/ess).
Interns responsibilities?
Samaritana Gambia takes a holistic approach to the people we are reaching out to, in the schools and the never been to school
We seek to minister as a Community. That means sharing meals, chores, etc. together. Time gets filled with activities, occupational therapy, and relaxation/recreation.
However, each Intern will have an individual plan that is always adaptable.
Interns are encouraged to plan and participate in healthy outward facing activities.
Using a prayer journal is a normal routine at Samaritana, as this synchronises with our teaching survivors about journaling and asking questions, as well as maybe furthering your literacy skills in expressing one self to God and assisting any emotional healing that will be required as you encounter the very painful journeys of those you are called to work with.
What are the living arrangements for Interns?
Interns are normally but not always provided a bed with a shared bathroom.
At times, the bedroom could have another team member or two, in it.
You are ofcourse welcome to negotiate your own accommodation arrangements with us. Rents are cheap here, conditions vary!
Can family and friends visit and stay at His Place?
Yes. Overnight stay can be arranged. There are policies, and procedures regarding guests that must be followed.
What’s the live-in Full time Interns work schedule?
The Intern work schedule is subject to change in order to more effectively meet any needs, as identified by the Directors.
What that means really is that there is no fixed schedule!
However you can expect a slow start with lots of thorough Orientation including an extra day(s )off to reflect and pace yourself.
After a month, you can expect to be working 5 days a week at a medium pace. On average we don’t do more than 50hrs/week and on average a 40 work is considered fulltime
Don’t worry, a very long (50km long!) warm clean sunny safe beach is across the road behind the Methodist church!
This means you can enjoy the beach any day.
What’s the application process?
Since this is a front-line field position, the application process is slightly unusual.
Candidate begin the process by completing an online application. Then we may often begin facebook chatting with you, then if all is going well, we ask for lots of referees (and you can ask for ours too!).
After an application is reviewed, a person who is a potential match is contacted for an online interview or a personal visit.
If all goes well, then the candidate is invited to put together an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Samaritana Gambia
This will include thoughts about what they think they understand about God’s calling on their living in West Africa .
If you are not already living in The Gambia we strongly encourage a trip to explore/spy out the land before committing yourself to saying: “Yes to come”
Application Stage One
Please select a valid formApplication Stage Two