Hello, my name is Ayesha Azad and I am currently a student going into 3rd year as part of the Specialist in International Development Program. I came into University of Toronto Scarborough the past year and it has been a year filled with so many opportunities and memories, eventually leading to this internship opportunity. As someone who loves to try new things and expand my knowledge within the field of development, I knew that doing an internship as part of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarship with WUSC would be perfect for me.
The location of this internship is one that is a very personal choice for me, as I spent most of my childhood in Colombo, Sri Lanka before moving to Canada and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to do my first in-field experience here. In Colombo, I will be working as a Women’s Employment Officer for WUSC and will be responsible for connecting women with job banks so women’s participation within the field of tourism will increase. This has been a topic I have been both passionate and curious about, so getting to learn about it through a real-life application would be a great pleasure. I am beyond excited to see a country which holds so much familiarity through another lens and attempt to understand it in a way which I never thought I would growing up.
I am thankful for the Queen Elizabeth Program, the University of Toronto Scarborough and all those who have been helpful throughout this process and for making this possible, because I know that the next 3 months will be both life changing and a one of a kind experience for me.