How to Succeed in an Anti-Sex Trafficking Nonprofit Organization
Modern slavery still exists. $99 billion is made per year from trafficking; 20% are from children. This is a dark, unfortunate worldwide epidemic. For this reason, you may have decided to join a nonprofit organization or company that combats human or sex trafficking. Here are some tips to help you succeed.
- Be patient. It may seem like it is taking a millennium to actually do “real work” in your internship, but your supervisor will be trying their best to get you to the core of what the organization’s mission is. This will seem important to you because you will want to help as much as you can to get the most out of your internship. Patience is a virtue and the more you learn, the more you can maximize help in the future.
- Build connections with supervisors and other employees. To understand the inner workings of a nonprofit organization, it is vital to talk to the supervisor and the people you work with overall. Ask questions and answer questions openly and honestly. Do not try too impress – just be yourself. You are more than capable of handling this internship and succeeding to the best of your ability. And you never know – at the end of the day the employees could become one of your friends or a very close connections in the future.
- Talk to survivors. First, ask if you are allowed to talk to survivors. If they are not able to because the organization may keep their identities confidential or because it is inappropriate for any other reason, you can still make the most of your internship. However, if you are able to talk to survivors, try to understand their story. Listen more than you talk. You need to make sure that your questions are not making them uncomfortable. If that is the case at any point, you should politely exit the conversation. It is better to say less than to accidentally offend a survivor, or worse, have them relive the tragedy they went through. Take a look at the article Rainn’s article, Tips for Talking to Survivor of Sexual Assault to read more about this.
Hope this helps!