Shane Achilla is from Kenya. He holds a Bachelor's in Special Needs Education from Kenyatta University, Kenya. He undertook his internship at the Africa Refugee Development Center (ARDC), as a coordinator for the Education for Humanity program. His main activities during the internship included: monitoring, evaluation, and learning, developing facilitation resources, and offering ongoing support to the facilitators and students. Through this experience, he has enhanced his theoretical and practical skills in monitoring and evaluating development projects. Secondly, he has gained a deeper understanding of the causes and effects of current global development problems including poverty, inequality, climate change, conflicts, and migration. Moreover, he has developed a clear understanding of development theories and frameworks, and the skills necessary for designing and implementing sustainable and respectful changes within communities. Living in fear of contracting coronavirus, loss of income, and health care characterized the changes that the asylum-seeking community in Tel Aviv have had to cope with due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the internship period. Most households within the community relied on food rations and donations distributed by well-wishers and local organizations such as ARDC to survive. At the program level, a number of students discontinued their learning in order to figure out how to support their families after losing their jobs. 

 

ARDC food distribution exercises to asylum seekers in Tel Aviv are underway during the pandemic. Without entitlement to unemployment benefits or welfare allowances, many asylum seekers had nothing to eat. ARDC teamed up with other partners, and through its extensive networks of volunteers delivered packages of food, toys, and baby supplies once a week in five different cities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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