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Testimonials

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Testimonials

	In considering Chinese history, culture, politics, or economics, my participation in the Yale-China Program has not only changed what I think and how I think, but indeed has expanded the range of issues about which I think. The complexities, as only skimmed above, are staggering in the world’s most populous country, yet with a new set of questions, I feel equipped to engage China with greater confidence and intellectual curiosity, and I have even explored options for study abroad in both Hong Kong and mainland China as I complete my legal education at Oxford.
	-Kyle Le Croy ('08), intern at Asian Migrant Centre, 2008

	Living in New Haven in June offered familiarity with a fresh twist. Cooking dinners together with our Hong Kong partners was an incredibly fun and meaningful experience. Chopsticks, dim sum and chrysanthemum tea were all new for me, just as guacamole, tortillas and spaghetti sauce were for our partners.
	-Monica Enamandram ('09), Intern at Leeway and Red Ribbon Centre, 2008

	I saw my summer with the Yale-China Service Internship Program not only as a meaningful way to spend time after graduation, but also an experience that allows me start planning practical steps towards health care development in rural China. Without this internship program, I would not understand the health care needs in China as much as I do now. Now, I know what questions I should be asking, what resources I need to be looking for and what first steps I need to take towards the goal of serving those in need through medicine.
	-Janice Wong ('08) Intern at Children’s Medical Foundation, 2008

	The Yale-China Public Service Internship Exchange gave me the opportunity to see how non-profit organizations work in New Haven and in Hong Kong. It gave me the chance to get to know people from backgrounds radically different from my own. It allowed me to explore a new culture and introduce others to my own. It taught me something about myself—that I can adapt to a new culture and be an independent traveler in a strange city with just a small map and the kindness of strangers.
	-Kate Kraft ('09), Intern at LEAP and Youth Spot, 2008

	I loved being in China on my own terms (i.e., not in a super-structured program setting). While my internship did provide some structure, I found myself no longer bound to a certain class or tourism schedule. As a result, I found that I had the luxury of exploring specific monuments, getting into lengthy conversations with taxi drivers, and enjoying the Guizhou scenery to its utmost. Being removed from academic goals and thus having time to stop and smell the proverbial roses (or, in this specific case, view the Guizhou karst formations) was very useful to me. This break from the classroom (and the pressures which come with it) was very useful (and fun!).
	-Lisa Campbell ('09), Intern at The Zigen Fund, 2007

	Working at HDH has been a huge learning experience. I can say without doubt that I have grown so much since the first day I stepped into the office. I have gained a lot from the internship – from “paralegal counseling” experience to learning about the many challenges that foreign domestic helpers face. I was continuously learning throughout the internship, whether simply hearing the stories of the helpers, accompanying them to their court hearings, or fighting back against their employment agencies.
	-Katrina Landeta ('10), Intern at Helpers for Domestic Helpers, 2008

	I was able to get a taste of work in the nonprofit world and realize the numerous challenges and difficulties that come with trying to fight a seemingly insurmountable problem like global environmental deterioration, but also gain hope that the work so many individuals do will eventually have a positive impact on our future on this earth.
	-Kelly Yamashita ('09), Intern at The Nature Conservancy, 2007

	I think the greatest benefit of the internship was that it added a personal dimension to my understanding of drug treatment and AIDS activism in China. It's one thing to read about public health information campaigns in China, it's another to go out into a neighborhood in the middle of a Kunming neighborhood and help health workers distribute condoms and HIV brochures.
	-Michael Alpert ('07), Intern at Yunnan Daytop, Kunming, 2006

	When we began the program, I felt the incredible need of the area from the system to the students themselves. I was humbled therefore, to realize when I left that I had received so much more than I had given. It was truly an honor.
	-Veronica Hu ('06), Intern at the Zigen Fund, Beijing and Guizhou, 2006

	Overall, my experience [here at Amity] has been fantastic. I am so grateful for the unexpected opportunity of this internship; I have been able to engage with people, who are passionate, knowledgeable, and deeply involved with migrant worker issues on the mainland, and on top of that, the Amity staff has been wonderfully kind to me, Hong Kong is amazing.
	-Kate Monaghan ('07), Intern at the Amity Foundation, Hong Kong and Nanjing, 2006

	This summer in Hong Kong I learned a lot: how to be adventurous, how to do things by myself, how to accept hospitality, how to give thanks, how to open up to a stranger and how to listen to one and gain one’s trust. I learned how welcoming another culture can be, and how receptive I could be to that welcome. I learned how to overcome the frustrations of language barriers (at work, with Sonia, and on the menu) and the frustrations of differences in etiquette (basically everywhere I went, but especially at the restaurant).
	-Claire Stanford ('06), Intern at Solar Youth and Youth Spot, 2006

	I have many stories to tell about what I experienced during my stay in Kunming: the surprises of cultural disparities, the headaches over the internship work and the local dialect, the various shopping/bargaining travesties, and the majestic sites of Yunnan are all burned into my memory. But in the end, what I will remember for years to come is the people I met in Kunming. In my quest to find my own way to make a difference in the world, I see no better example than my co-workers at Daytop, who taught me the value of persistence and audacity. They are what I want to be; they are what I strive for.
	-Naoko Kozuki ('05), Intern at Yunnan Daytop, 2005

	A typical day in Kunming (known throughout China as the city of eternal spring because of its year round spring-like weather) began with the calls of my neighbors, who routinely yelled things in Mandarin to advertise whatever product they were selling and to officially mark the start of the workday. This kind of close proximity to the Chinese community that surrounds YunDa certainly made my experience more fulfilling.
	-IK Ekunwe ('06), Yunnan University Team Teaching Intern, Kunming, 2004

	It intrigued me to discover how the United States and Hong Kong differed in handling the [HIV/AIDS] pandemic that has posed the foremost global health challenge. The Yale-China internship allowed me to examine this duality in healthcare by juxtaposing a work experience in New Haven with one in Hong Kong.
	-Vinh-Tung Nguyen ('05), Intern at Leeway and TeenAIDS, New Haven & Hong Kong, 2004

	On more than a few occasions, I thought about how glad I was to be [in Leishan] instead of sitting in a cubicle on the 41st floor of Citigroup headquarters.
	-Keane Shum, Zigen Foundation (Design-Your-Own Internship), Leishan, 2004

	As we swam to the shore and the sun set behind the Huan and behind the green hills on a cluster of outlying islands, I understood why the Chinese phrase for landscape was literally - mountain water - and I also felt most powerfully that I was being treated to an experience like none I ever expected to have, and like none that I might ever have again.
	-David Zax ('06), Intern at Adventure-Ship, Hong Kong, 2004

	What Adventure-Ship has is the ability to capture young imaginations and get them thinking about what's "out there"...we share more than a ship with them; we share a dream of where that ship can take us.
	-Daniel Peterson, Intern at Adventure-Ship, Hong Kong, 2002

	[In my time at Society for AIDS Care] I gained invaluable, working knowledge relating to community and public health and to HIV/AIDS in particular. My projects also helped me to develop skills not always exercised in academic spheres - skills like giving presentations, interviewing people, and integrating theories and concepts with the real world. I also got a unique perspective on public and community health that has stayed with me as I have begun medical school...I am now at Baylor College of Medicine, wading my way through anatomy, cell biology and histology, and cardiovascular physiology. But I have not forgotten about the hands-on introduction to public health that has opened my eyes to where my medical degree can take me.
	-Jessica Lin ('01), Intern at Society for AIDS Care, Hong Kong, 2001

	I found the service project in Hunan to be culturally very eye-opening. The differences between Hong Kong and Changsha were immediately recognizable; in Changsha, the people were warm, the cuisine was flavorful and spicy (much to the delight of my Indian taste-buds), and the culture was rich!
	-Govind Rangrass '08

	We were all thrown into another environment with twice as many students all with varying levels of ability to communicate with each other… I learned the value of non-verbal communication such as smiling, laughing, frowning, making other sorts of faces, doing something hurriedly or slowly, and other actions that convey the same message in all languages. It was awfully frustrating at times, but I would not give up the experience I shared with my HUDA partner for any other summer option.
	-Eileen Regan '10

	As the trip wore on and we spent more time together, it felt more like a large family. Meals were loud and fun. We always sat at two large circular tables, and shared dishes, which added to the communal feel. The funniest memory I have is when we tried a local specialty, spicy snake, for the first time. As the Yale China interns ate, our Hunan University hosts watched to see our reactions. The snake was good, but it was incredibly spicy, so that our faces all turned red and we started to sweat.
	-Rachel Flynn ‘09

	With the friends from Yale, I learned a lot about the western culture and their ways of thinking. What's more, through the program, I made so many foreign friends who are optimistic, passionate and independent, and this means a life treasure for me. Thanks so much to the Yale-China Association for providing us this chance, I now feel the world's turning smaller and smaller, the people from the whole world are brothers and sisters living together. Foreigners are not strangers anymore, they are as approachable as our dear family members.
	-Summer Wong, Hunan University student