Internship with Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA)

Picture 1. Taken at Boracay, in Philippines.

As public policy student I would like to apply my skills and knowledge in the field which I am interested in. Therefore at the end of the first year I decided to look for some internships related to human rights. Being in Asia it would be practical if human right policies could be studied within Asian context. With these thoughts I applied to several positions; and I got the internship in Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) in Metro Manila (Quezon city), Philippines.

Picture 2.  Taken at Manila

Metro Manila is a capital of dilemma. Every city, every street is a stark contradiction of each other. You can see the streets with rich and luxury houses or apartments and at the same time the slums and depressed areas nearby. You can also see expensive cars and tricycles in the streets. You can find busses with air conditioner or "jeepneys" with open windows. The Jeepneys are local small busses which people began to use by modifying US Army jeeps that were left behind. They decorate these busses to their taste and each jeepney has its own unique signal. The most strange thing to notice is that neither big busses nor jeepneys have route numbers. You should be a local to be able travel with these busses for long distances. Most advisable is to take taxi however it will take you at least 2 hours to reach one point to another within the city due to bad traffic. Some local people advised me to take busses or jeepneys if I am in hurry because they are the quickest way to reach the destination.

Picture 3. Taken at Makati

Picture 4. Taken at Tagaytay

Picture 5. The Picture of Jeepneys

Most contradiction was the malls. There are plenty of malls in every streets with full of people. The question which troubles me is always why the country with such high rates of poverty has high number of malls? I could not understand why they need so many malls and spending all day in the malls every weekend. Of course it has economical and political answer. But I think also because Filipino people are very friendly and hospitable. They love being around people, make fun, sing karaoke and dance, in one word spend time among friends and families.

Living under Spanish (300 years) and American (more than 40 years) colonial rules and then Japanese invasion and rule during WWII created a diverse Filipino culture. The different historical buildings, castles, city architectures could be the best examples of it. They inherited traditions and culture from the foreign rulers and mixed them with their own ones to create richer and more colourful culture.

Picture. Taken at the Manila, Philippines

Picture. Happy childhood. Taken at  the Quezon city , Philippines

Living under Spanish (300 years) and American (more than 40 years) colonial rules and then Japanese invasion and rule during WWII created a diverse Filipino culture. The different historical buildings, castles, city architectures could be the best examples of it. They inherited traditions and culture from the foreign rulers and mixed them with their own ones to create richer and more colourful culture.

Picture. Taho snack

The internship with Migrant Forum in Asia was valuable experience in my career. MFA is a regional network that is doing regional (in Asia) advocacy on migration and providing assistance to protect the rights of migrants in the field. MFA is network of several migration related organisations that believe the migrant rights are human rights[1]. When I joined them they were working on several projects, such as Recruitment Reforms, Migration and Sustainable Development Goals, Lawyers Beyond the Borders and etc. I began to work on Migration and Sustainable Development Goals directly with the program coordinators. I was helping them to research on related topics, preparing reports and etc. Because of the project MFA was holding several meetings at the national and sub-regional levels in Asia. I was in charge of the support papers and documentation part of these meetings. I worked with documents of the meetings at the national level in Thailand and Cambodia, and Sub-regional Level (South Asia) in Korea. I was a participant at meetings in the National level in Philippines and Sub-regional Level of South East Asian countries which happened also in Philippines. It was a great experience to understand human rights and migrants rights in the perspectives of Asia. MFA gave me also an opportunity to challenge myself in different society with different backgrounds and lifestyles. I am thankful for the experience of working with such a nice team that accepted me to be one of them.

Picture Taken at the meeting of SDG's (National Level) in Quezon city, Philippines.

Picture Taken at the meeting of SDG's (Sub-regional level) in the Manila city, Philippines.