Khairoon Abbas
Tanzania

I joined UNEP's Regional Office for North America (UNEP RONA) immediately after completing my Master's degree in Journalism from Carleton University, Canada's premier Journalism school. I've always admired the work of the United Nations, especially having seen how UN projects help people in my country, Tanzania, and my continent of Africa. As a communications intern at UNEP RONA, my days were far from boring. From monitoring environment news and writing web-copy for RONA's website to organizing events, updating media lists, researching various topics and drafting press releases, there was always something interesting to do. In my three months at UNEP RONA, I worked on promoting the UN-led Seal The Deal campaign in North America, and helped organize an event to celebrate the UNEP RONA office being the first UN-office to be certified LEED Gold (LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)!

What made this internship even more rewarding is the way UNEP RONA staff treats its interns. Not only are they welcoming and kind, they also treat you like family. There were days when there was so much to do and the hours felt like seconds. But as the saying goes, time flies when you're having fun. And that's exactly what it's like at UNEP RONA. Fun and challenging yet always fulfilling!