New start with the internship in Malta: Fair Trade

I was dreaming about Erasmus experience for a long time. However, I didn‘t dare to do that during my Bachelor studies. I had a big anemy – fear. It blocked me from going abroad. But it was amazing when I overcame my fear and finally did it! I am very grateful that my friend motivated, supported and helped me to move on and make my dream true.

My adventure started at the end of February, 2015 and continued till the end of summer. I did my internship in fair trade organization called Koperattiva Kummerċ Ġust (KKĠ). It is the organization that manages the day-to-day activities of Il-Ħanut l-Arka (Fair trade shop) and embarks upon educational projects and outreach activities. KKĠ runs its educational process in a flexible and easily-adaptable way that meets the needs of particular communities within society, and different niches within the market.

Before leaving I knew just a little about fair trade so it was new and interesting for me. I learnt everything in a way – „just go and do it“. And it was a big challenge for me who is used to time and tasks management ( I want to know exactly what to do, how eveything works etc.). Thus, one of the biggest challenge for me was going to the schools. We had to educate children and teenagers about fair trade, ethical consumption. I myself felt that my knowledge about the subject is limited but I already had to teach the others! However there were supportive people around me who helped me with this.

One more valuable experience was my participation in the European Youth Summit for Ethical Consumption (Germany, Bonn). I got a lot of inspiration there for my future activities, made new friends from all over the world and got new ideas, thus I just need to implement it.

A big challenge was to organize a big yearly fair trade event – World Fest.  World Fest is an annual event that creates public awareness about Fair Trade and Development. After this experience I found my new talent – events organizing that I would like to use in future.

Another memorable part of my internship was a country where I lived – Malta. Warm climate, Mediterranean sea, interesting history, amazing seafood – all these things made my life in Malta special. Malta is very beautiful island and I felt blessed that I had possibility to be there for a half year!

This internship brought many good things into my life not only from professional but from personal point of view as well. I know my capacities now, I improved my English language, broadened my professional network. I became more independent and confident in myself. To my mind, internship experience was one of the bests decisions of my life:)