Humanitarian Work as a Career

A few weeks ago I was talking to a woman who was asking me about my schooling. The conversation took the usual course one takes when talking to a university student:

Woman: What are you majoring in?

Me: I’m an English major.

A moment’s pause as she takes that information in . . .

Woman: Oh, so do you want to teach?

The typical response to “English major,” that, or a lament to this effect: “Oh, my niece was an English major as well, but she’s not interested in teaching, so now she has nothing to do with
all that schooling!!! . . . What do you want to do with it?”

Me: No, I don’t think I’ll teach, right now I’m planning on grad school so that I can go into
non-profit humanitarian work.

At this point people usually become very interested and the conversation progresses nicely, but this woman caught me off guard . . .

Woman: (blank look on her face) Oh, so what do you want to do with that?

Me: (bewildered) Um, humanitarian work . . . ?

Woman: (nods her head . . . still not comprehending) Okay, so . . . what do you
do with that?

Although humanitarian work has been around for quite some time, the idea behind it has become popular in recent years with help from big name celebrities such as Angelina Jolie, Oprah, Nichole Kidman, and George Clooney who have brought awareness to many issues affecting the world’s people today. But despite all the media attention, under the layers of “coolness” and the fact that humanitarian work is “in” right now, there is a community of people working together to make a difference in the lives of others.

My conversation with this woman gave me the opportunity to stop and consider what you “do” with humanitarian work. Being in the middle of it all, sometimes it’s easy to loose focus on the big picture while so many other details demand your attention. Humanitarian work needs to be a partnership. It’s all too easy for people to donate and see immediate results without realizing the damage they are creating for the future. This is one of the reasons I was so excited to find ASCEND, because it is a partnership that enables others to make the difference in their own lives and thus bring about a greater change for the future.

Written by McKenzie Hansen
ASCEND Alliance Intern