My 7-WEEK Internship in Bogotá!

Nicolas Diaz 

La Alta Consejería Presidencial Para La Reintegración (ACR)

I still remember with utmost clarity the day I left Colombia as a 7-year old. For months I judged that day as the one that ended my childhood happiness, forcing me to leave behind everything I knew and loved.

However, as one year away from home turned into thirteen, I couldn’t help but notice how every time I came back to Bogotá, all I did was criticize what I once had loved and missed. I would complain about the horrendous traffic, curse about the unappealing nature of too many a shady neighborhood and, above all, continuously nitpick about where local politicians were driving my country.

This pessimistic behavior only intensified as I realized my family felt exactly the same way: grateful for having left Colombia, as if living here had been some sort of punishment or misfortune.

I honestly can’t remember when my point of view towards my hometown took a 180-degree turn; I simply remember wanting to leave behind that awry attitude and actually doing something beneficial for the country I had unfortunately grown accustomed to criticizing day in and day out.

As one thing led to another, and through ViveLa I obtained an internship placement with La Alta Consejería Presidencial Para La Reintegración (ACR), I started, for the first time in 13 years wanting to change my country in the course of my own efforts, instead of merely through endless carping and ill-bred comments. ViveLa welcomed this interest of mine with open arms, and a few short weeks later, I was walking into the office where I would work for the following month-and-a-half.

I was immediately impressed by the vast array of abilities and life experiences everyone in the office had had in their field of work; at times I felt intimated, but more often than not, I felt privileged for being surrounded by so many individuals who were incredibly willing and able to change the course of the armed conflict in Colombia.

Moreover, I realized what I was doing in my internship was one of the more important tasks being carried out in the Colombian peace process as I discovered how Colombia’s Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration program is the only one in the world that is being carried out while the actual conflict is still taking place. I became even more proud of what I was doing when I saw how other countries are looking up to Colombia’s peace initiative in order to solve their own armed conflicts.

I can’t emphasize enough how both ViveLa and ACR catapulted me onto a whole new level of work experience which managed to surpass my expectations. As a result, I am leaving with incredibly valuable experience which I hope to apply in other internships or jobs I may have in the future.

Most notably, however, I am ending this 7-week long internship knowing that I actually did something good for my country, as opposed to criticizing all its faults instead of developing its strengths.