Rochelle Cornelius

Virtual Internship at
B360 education partnerships

Bachelor Student in Journalism
Namibia University of Science and Technology
April 19 - July 16, 2021

With the world facing the COVD-19 pandemic and everything moving to digital platforms, I think its safe to say that virtual internships can be seen to be part of our everyday life in the near future.

Pilot Project launched at NUST

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the travel restrictions, the internships in Switzerland that have been organized by B360 education partnerships ( B360*) in collaboration with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) since 2011, could not be offered to Namibian students in 2020. In order to grow the valuable program for international education beyond the pandemic and to build a long-term program to grant a larger number of internships to students from Southern Africa, the B360 Virtual Internships Project was developed in a very short time, in cooperation with professionals in Namibia and Switzerland, with NUST and with the support of the Staub Kaiser Foundation.

Sabina Balmer, the founder of B360 explained that she was not sure whether this program was going to work out: “Everybody thought I was crazy when I mentioned the idea and so it really took a lot of courage and hard work to get the whole thing going.”

Part of an exciting experiment!

I was fortunate enough to be part of the pilot virtual internship offered by B360 education partnerships. I applied to this program but I didn’t know that the process was going to be so long. I think I went through 4 interviews, before I was admitted.

We were a group of 4 students (in our 3rd year) from NUST. We all are in different fields of study and each of us interned for different companies and organizations based in Switzerland.  The internship lasted for 3 months. We worked from an office on campus. From 8h00 to 17h00 everyday.

Kickoff, finally!

Kick off for the internship was on 19th of April. My workload was not that much throughout the internship, it was manageable for me and I enjoyed it a lot. I got to do some big tasks like doing interviews, writing up various concepts, as well as smaller tasks i,e, LinkedIn posts. We also got special training such as office etiquette and career starter training from different Swiss organizations like LGT and Julius Baer. This training equipped us well enough to get started with our virtual jobs

Overcoming challenges

Working in the same office with 3 other young people was challenging for all of us. We had to find ways to work well together and get used to each other’s ways of living and doing things. We overcame these challenges.

The internet connection was also an issue in the beginning of the internship because we only had virtual contact with our company mentors so we needed to have stable internet connection but we managed to get devices from the NUST International relations department.

Another challenge I faced was also the week we had to work from home because one of the other interns got infected with COVID. I struggled with staying motivated while working from home and so I couldn’t wait to get back to the office the next week.

One of the highlights

We were also fortunate enough to go on a trip to Swakopmund. Our host families in Switzerland funded the trip and we were accompanied  by Rudolf Schmitt, a B360  expert and board member that came to Namibia for 3 weeks to give lectures at NUST.

We stayed in Swakopmund for the weekend and went to Walvis Bay on Saturday for our team building exercise - climbing the dunes. This was great because we got to encourage each other to reach the top together.

Overall, the trip was a great way for us to also get to know each other on a personal level, apart from the office setting.

Building bonds despite the distance

Another great thing that came from this internship was the chance we got to make new relatives.

We all had host families from Switzerland that we communicated with on a daily basis. This was to allow us to have intercultural exchange and to have a “virtual tour” in Switzerland and to know how different life is there compared to life in Namibia. I grew to love my host family because they were supportive throughout and really gave me a sense of belonging.

They always kept me updated with their activities and were always eager to know what I am up to.  Mine was a family of 6, a couple with 4 children. The kids loved me and I felt like an older sister to them. They didn’t know how to speak English but were always eager to show me what they were  doing. I most specially built a bond with the youngest daughter of the family. She is 2 years old and her face would light up whenever she saw me on the calls we had. I also shared my daily life and family activities with them and showed them how life is in Namibia as well.  I shared my aunt’s traditional wedding process and I think this was a highlight for them. They loved it, they asked a lot of questions about the way we do things and I had fun explaining it to them.

I never thought we would be able to create such a strong bond, especially because I was always clueless, I didn’t really know what to talk to them about. We also struggled to make time for calls and interaction but we made it work and the love and bond kept on growing.

I will definitely keep in contact with my host family even though the internship has ended.