This is my very first blog, hence its posish on the main page. If you want to read any more, do check out the intern’s blog page at the top. Or head to the original source on our website at http://www.stjohneyehospital.org/blog
As I woke up on a delightfully bright Monday morning, a tingle of excitement hit me like a shot of tequila. Usually at half seven I’m either comatose or about to go to sleep (I‘m a Southampton Uni student) but today was a special occasion. Not Independence Day, as something my American cousin was keen to remind me of for some reason last night and which, frankly, is something I associate most with Jeff Goldblum giving some aliens a computer virus and the Whitehouse blowing up. The reason for getting up at such an unearthly hour was because it was the first day of my internship at the St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital Group. I’d shined my shoes. Ironed a shirt. Packed a lunch. Since finishing my exams all I‘d been doing is “researching my dissertation” i.e. an hour in the library then messing about in my student house. So I was eager to enter the hustle and bustle of the working world, hit London town, and get to work in my marketing internship for this worthy cause.
A little about me first. I’ve just finished my second year studying philosophy at Southampton. Yup, you read that right, philosophy. It is a bit of a transition from reading Nietzsche to initialising and implementing marketing strategies. In fact, I’ve a few friends who (half) jokingly remarked that taking up marketing in the city was selling out, trading in my soul for materialistic capitalist peanuts. Of course, pretty much any job after philosophy that doesn’t allow the wearing of dressing gowns and smoking of pipes can be considered selling out. But when I told them what I’d be doing, the people I’d be working with and the cause we strive for they all quickly agreed that I wasn’t flogging my soul. Rather the opposite in fact.
Southampton University have a great scheme in connecting undergrads like me with internships around the country. I have to confess when I saw the position available at the Eye Hospital I hadn’t really heard of the charity. Everyone’s heard of St. John’s ambulances but an eye hospital in Jerusalem? There’s not much coverage. Which is a crying shame because as I looked around the website and saw the fantastic work that they do I knew damn sure such efforts should be much more widely recognised.
There’s no way I could do justice to the activities of the hospital in a blog like this. Hopefully, you’ll have a browse through the rest of the website and check out some of the stuff undertaken. But in essence the hospital provides eye care to those whom desperately need it in the troubled areas of Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank. Regardless of a patient’s ethnicity, religion or ability to pay the Hospital tries to treat as many people as they can. 40,000 patients are treated each year by the hospital. They also train doctors affend nurses from the region so that even more can be treated.
When I read more about the group I appreciated even more the difficulties these guys face. It is not the most stable of regions. On my charity jailbreak earlier this year we were banned from hitchhiking to the West Bank. Also Afghanistan. That’s fair enough I suppose.
Today was the standard newbie initiation; tour around the office in Farringdon, meeting and greeting the team, being given the pink monitor. I was immediately struck by how helpful everyone was; the enthusiasm was infectious. Coffee had just been served but hey it’s still pretty impressive to be as welcoming as they were at 11AM on a Monday. My thanks to everyone who took the time to show me around when no doubt they had proper work to be doing.
After the talk I was told about the sort of things I will be working on over the next four weeks. This blog for one thing. Fingers crossed I should be delivering one each day for whilst I’m here, giving you updates about the hospital’s work and my experiences here. The next thing I’ll be working on is how to secure some celebrity endorsements. Really should start working on that; I’ll call it a day for now but don’t worry I’ll keep you informed on how it goes. If I can figure out how to get a comments section going feel free to drop me a line. Suggestions for celeb patrons would be appreciated. Hopefully not everyone will put Eva Mendes.
See you tomorrow,
Nick
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