The Backpacker Intern

Helping out International Medical Corps UK

Via my friend Max Kreijn I got in touch with International Medical Corps in London. IMC is a global organisation that relieves the suffering of those affected by war, natural disaster and disease, by delivering vital health care services that focus on training.

The Backpacker Intern - London Underground

After a great London weekend with some Dutch/English friends I started on Monday at IMC UK. Josh Harris (Communications Manager) and Livi de Santos (Digital Communications Officer) gave me a warm welcome with their smiles and (of course) a cup of tea. I’m a big fan of charity and social work, mainly for the causes but also because of the warm people that do this work. It just feels great to use and share your skills for a bigger goal: making the world a better place.

The Backpacker Intern - International Medical Corps UK Office

Josh asked me to help out with the ‘First Responders’ campaign. It’s a project from IMC together with the European Commission and MTV Voices. The goal of the campaign was to raise awareness for ‘First Responders’. First Responders? Well that was my question to them as well. When I checked the website I saw loads of stories about fascinating people doing incredible things in places all over the world. What I couldn’t see straight away is what I could do to show my support or help. What did the campaign want me to do? When I talked to the team I understood it, but we needed something on the website which made it clear who First Responders are and what you can do to help.

The whole week I worked on doing research and finding solutions. I thought it was a good idea to explain the story of the First Responders in a film. The good news is that IMC has a lot of – high quality – footage. I wrote the voice over, the script and made a mood board for the styles we can use. I also came up with a new pay-off that explains what First Responders are doing. First Responders are local people – trained by IMC and the European Commission – who help out first, during wars, disasters and outbreaks of diseases. I came up with: ‘First Responders. Local heroes in times of crisis.’ IMC really liked it. YES!

The Backpacker Intern - First Responders new pay-off

We live in a time of storytelling but even more of storydoeing. Besides the film I also came up with a social campaign to generate more awareness for the incredible work that the First Responders are doing. I’m not allowed to share it yet but hopefully it will be alive and kicking soon.

Josh and Livi were very pleased with the work I managed to do for them in one week. I just saw a rough edit of the film and it’s starting to work and look great! It feels awesome to know that something like this can make a positive change in the world. I will share the video very soon!

The Backpacker Intern + International Medical Corps UK

Livi, Josh, Maya and the rest of the IMC Crew. Thanks so much for this experience. It was a great week and I’m very proud that we made so much progress. Can’t wait to launch the film and raise awareness for the hardworking First Responders.

The Backpacker Intern + TEDxTeen London Crew

In the weekend I visited my friends from TEDxTeen, after the NYC-edition where I gave a speech it was great to see the team again. And the amazing talks of course. I had some great conversations with Ankit Shah the day after the event. A very wise and positive guy. He created Tea With Strangers, where he encourages people to just have an offline chat, face to face. You should check out his talk, it’s great.

The Backpacker Intern + Nile Rodgers at TEDxTeen London

I was also caught on camera, rollin’ again with my friend Nile 😉

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