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From Scotland to San Francisco – interning with the American Red Cross

By Sarah Rose
July 3, 2010 at 3:00 pm

If someone had asked me at the beginning of the year where I could see myself in a few months time, I would have never even considered saying America, let alone as a Red Cross Intern. Yet somehow fate smiled down on me as an application process turned into an interview, and suddenly an acceptance, to one of the more prestigious internships avaliable to Red Cross volunteers between the ages of 18 and 25.

The American Red Cross (ARC) Bay Area Chapter hosts the 3 week internship every year, and usually accepts two interns into the programme. This time, three of us were welcomed to sunny San Francisco; one member from Jordan, one from China, and myself from Scotland. The idea of the programme? To build bridges between, and learn about, each national society, with the view to improving each Red Cross society for the better.
So far, the experience has been amazing, and it’s only day three!

While sight-seeing throughout San Fran city has been incredible, the food is beautiful, and the people amazing, what we have learned about the ARC Bay Area is a total mind-blow. Their services are similar to the British Red Cross in terms of principles; we both aim to help people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. What differs is how we go about it. And I suppose this is where the whole point of the internship comes into play – we discover what works, and what could be effectively implemented into our own society.

For example, their disaster response services are very similar to that of British Red Cross but speaking from experience of local response, for example our response to severe flooding, we seem to have a greater focus on medical elements as well as setting up centres, handing out supplies and offering emotional support.

Meanwhile, ARC are predominantly logistical, dishing out the right resources and providing information and promoting disaster preparedness. Of course it all depends on what disasters happen in which area. San Fran and the Bay Area are at a greater risk of earthquakes; the last time I heard, Scotland’s land-mass hadn’t shifted for quite some time, at least not with the strength to knock buildings down. Yet I feel that the ARC’s “Be Red Cross Ready” preparedness plan could certainly be adapted for use in those zones prone to more ‘British’ disasters, such as bad weather or flooding.

So that’s one area that has piqued my interest. Of course there are plenty of other areas the ARC specialises in, the details of which have been crammed into our heads in the space of three very action-packed days. Although I’m not going to start an entire discursive essay here, after all, that would be telling too much

I’ll end this post for now by saying that the programme is informative and fantastic fun, and don’t worry, it’s not all about the ARC. Part of the intern’s project is to create a presentation comparing the ARC with their own society, so I get to make the BRC look good for a while too! We can also incorporate some cultural elements – I’m wondering if I’d scare folk by walking on stage with tartan draped round me and my face painted blue, yelling ”Och aye the noo!” at the top of my voice. Maybe a bit too “Braveheart”?

Find out more about international youth volunteering and internships

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Tags: American Red Cross, internships, san francisco

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