My public health internship through Amazon Learning: How it showed me my path

I interned with Amazon Learning during the winter of 2017 as a Public Health intern at the Runa Foundation. My time there was incredibly impactful in learning what field I would want to go into after graduating from college. I spent my two month internship learning about the chacra system and traditional medicine from local farmers and my host family, developing arcGIS mapping skills to help the Runa Foundation in their project aiding local farmers in the mapping of their land, and also assisted on a food security project which involved interviewing farmers about their family’s nutrition experience and needs. This experience helped my language skills immensely, launched me into the local culture of Archidona, Ecuador, and taught me that I want to go into medical anthropology and learn more about how indigenous communities engage with health care systems. These connections from my internship with Runa Foundation through Amazon Learning helped me make the connections that I would then use for a Fulbright scholarship this year. I am now researching women’s health in Archidona on a Fulbright grant, thanks to the help and support of Amazon Learning opening my world two years ago.