My Experience as a Sachh Intern

By Mollie Semple

When I applied to the content writing internship role with The Sachh Foundation I didn’t think I was going to get it. Applying for jobs and internships is a gruelling process on any good day, but during a pandemic the whole thing just gets ten times worse. It seems that 95% of the time anything you apply for gets no response at all, and if any response does come your way it is usually to tell you that you haven’t been successful.

I feel extraordinarily lucky that one response was to tell me I’d gotten through to the next round of the application for Sachh Foundation. Then, after that, to tell me I’d be processed through to the interview round. And finally to say that I had been successful in getting the role.

All of our work, of course, has been remote. I have met none of my fellow interns or even Sankalp, the founder of Sachh Foundation. However, as much as I would have loved to meet all of these cool and interesting people in person, part of me believes that without the pandemic we would never have been brought together. All of us live in different parts of the world, and because of remote working it has meant that it doesn’t matter where we are in quarantine. It meant that Sankalp was able to choose people with incredibly varied lives and experiences which can only have added to the work we were able to produce for the company. The Sachh Foundation is about togetherness and teamwork, which is what we were able to exhibit even during a global crisis. I think this is a credit to the company that Sankalp has created.

I feel very honoured to have worked for Sachh Foundation. There are very few companies that are as honest, transparent and intent on doing the right thing. I feel that the work I have contributed is going to allow a young company to grow and build into something that bring more good into the world. Very few interns can say the same thing!

Even during the pandemic I have been given the privilege to work for a company that I believe in. I felt that being an intern for Sachh Foundation was a two-way street. My work and input was genuinely valuable, and in turn the experience will have been invaluable to my writing skills and my own career. This is exactly what you want from an internship, I do feel very fortunate indeed.

Being able to add value to something during this difficult time has been incredibly important to my mental health. I spent weeks before in lockdown twiddling my thumbs, feeling incredibly anxious about my future and generally quite discontented. The internship has allowed me to focus on something significant, develop and build up important skills and it has helped me be productive and useful in a universally difficult period.

From the research that I had to do for the various pieces of writing that I have produced over the last two months, I have learnt a great deal about serious, global issues. I got to have a fascinating interview with a woman about her business dedicated to sustainable eco-tourism. I learnt about all the different SDGs and their impact worldwide. I was able to reflect upon my own privilege and understand how I can and should use that awareness positively.

The amazing thing is that even in the eight weeks of working for Sacch Foundation the world has already changed a lot. It has made me realise how fast-paced everything really is. When I started the internship the Black Lives Matter protests had just started, lockdown in my country was just beginning to ease, the virus was hitting new countries. Today all of these things and more have developed, moved on, made a difference, started new conversations, new movements, new ways of being proving that even when everything feels on “pause” we move forwards to fight new challenges and follow new paths.

This has highlighted to me the absolute importance of world-wide sustainable development. Our communities can evolve and grow but we have to start enacting more sustainable ways of living. We have to stop destroying our planet and we have to make sure that people aren’t getting left behind in instances of extreme poverty.

I am so glad to have stumbled upon this opportunity at a time when I really needed. I have learnt a great deal and I truly feel proud to have spent time working for the Sachh Foundation. What I have gained from this internship will stick with me for a while to come, and for that I am extremely grateful.