L.E.S.S. Cooperativa Sociale, ar.l.
NGO Support Intern
Naples, Campania, Italy
My supervisor, Francesco, a fellow intern, and I at a community outreach workshop
My Experience with L.E.S.S.
L.E.S.S stands for "Lotta all’Esclusione sociale per lo Sviluppo", meaning the fight against the social exclusion for development, and is a non-governmental organization located in Naples, Campania, Italy. L.E.S.S. supports research and initiatives for the welcoming and social inclusion of economic migrants, asylum seekers, and international protection refugees. Furthermore, the organization provides services to underprivileged populations of Naples.
For 5 weeks (July-August 2022), I had the opportunity of interning with L.E.S.S. and getting to learn about these various initiatives and services. My work as an intern consisted of completing remote assignments, observing daily office activities, and assisting in community outreach workshops.
My remote assignments consisted of translating several official documents from Italian to English. In the office, I was able to sit in on immigration meetings with newly arrived refugees. One of the meetings was with a lawyer from L.E.S.S. and what in Italian is referred to as a “minori stranieri non accompagnati” (MSNA), meaning foreign unaccompanied minor. The options for residing in Italy were discussed in the meeting. Through observations like this one, I was able to learn a lot about the formal process for immigration as well as international protection in Italy and the European Union in general. Similarly, through assisting various different community outreach workshops, I discovered a tremendous amount about the types of initiatives that a non-governmental organization, like this one, can undertake.
To learn more about my various projects and responsibilities as an intern with L.E.S.S., read below.
Translations
For my translation assignments, I was sent various official company documents in Italian and was responsible for translating them into English. As my knowledge of Italian is very limited, I was instructed to use Google Translate to initially translate the documents and then to use my native speaker knowledge of English to correct what was produced by Google Translate. In doing so, I was able to translate documents such as L.E.S.S.'s official CV and grant proposals into English. Through these translations, I discovered a lot about L.E.S.S.'s past projects as well as how new ones are proposed. To view some of these documents, click the PDF buttons below.
L.E.S.S. official CV, translated into English
L.E.S.S. grant proposal, translated into English
L.E.S.S. Rules and Regulations for Foreign unaccompanied minors, translated into English
Community Outreach Workshops
During my 5 weeks as an intern, I was able to attend three different community outreach workshops, giving me a great understanding of the various services provided by L.E.S.S. to the Naples community.
The first of the workshops consisted of professional hair stylists cutting and styling the hair of disabled women of the Naples community. In the first photo, you can see I am holding a shampoo bottle for one of the stylists. In the second photo, you can see myself, a fellow intern, and the woman who coordinates this workshop for L.E.S.S., Sabrina. Before the workshop began, Sabrina told me, and I couldn’t agree more, that everyone deserves to have their personal hygiene needs met. As hair care falls into that category, this workshop is an initiative that L.E.S.S. has started.
The second workshop consisted of a help desk for refugees in the Naples area. There were people stationed to aid with applications for international protection as well as to assist in the search for jobs and housing. Being able to observe this workshop taught me a lot about the process for international protection in Italy. People from all over the world, including countries like Venezuela, Ukraine, Tunisia, Georgia, and Chile, visited the workshop. The third photo shows a discussion about the process to obtain international protection that I was able to sit in on.
The third workshop consisted of teaching refugee women various skills, like how to sew with a sewing machine, for the purpose of applying these skills to get jobs. I was even able to participate in this workshop as a student and learned how to use a sewing machine, as you can see in the fourth photo.
My commute from Sorrento to Naples
In order to commute to the office or to workshops, I took the Circumvesuviana train from Sorrento, where I lived in the Sant'Anna institute, to Naples
Although the commute was long, about an hour and a half on most days, I learned a great deal about public transportation in Italy as well as what it is like to commute to work in Italy. I took the train with many others on their way to work and I was able to very authentically experience life as an employee in southern Italy.
