Announcement
Each semester, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Salt Lake City welcomes dozens of college students or recent college graduates to join a corps of interns who build program capacity and offer support to the refugee and new American families served. Amen Koutowogbe completed a summer internship in 2020 with the IRC’s digital inclusion team. This summer, Amen returned to document the efforts of interns like her, who started their IRC internship through a partnership with One Refugee.
Amen came to the U.S. on a diversity visa nearly six years ago. She recently graduated from Salt Lake Community College with her associate's degree and is starting at Utah Valley University next year. As a student in a new country navigating a foreign education system, Amen says she could not see herself as a college graduate today without the support offered by One Refugee.
One Refugee is an organization that helps not only students from refugee backgrounds, but also students otherwise not familiar with the U.S. college system that may be at a disadvantage to succeed educationally and professionally. As a One Refugee student, Amen was eager to support a video project at would lift up the experiences of several One Refugee interns at the IRC in Salt Lake City.
Amen Koutowogbe wants to use videography as a tool to share stories of empowerment.
Photo: Courtesy of Amen
Amen says she has always been interested in videography. As an immigrant from Togo, Amen initially planned on pursuing a degree in Computer Science but soon realized film and video were her true passion. “I want to be a video editor,” Amen stated, “but I want to focus on the marketing side of it, and helping people have their voices heard.” For Amen, video is a tool to pursue another passion of hers: helping others succeed and lifting others’ voices.
“I came from a background where, as a female, you are not encouraged to seek certain jobs,” she says, “but I was lucky enough that I came from a family that was supportive of whatever decision I was making.” Amen shares how as a child she watched films where women had careers and jobs not considered typical for women in Togo—representation that made a true impact and showed her that career options were not limited.
Film also introduced Amen to stories of people struggling and overcoming their hardships. “I heard about a lot of people who have struggled in the past, but still they have made it,” she shares. This was a point of inspiration for Amen: “If video wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have heard a lot of these stories.”
During her time as an IRC digital inclusion intern, Amen gained experience producing videos as need erupted during the pandemic for instructional resources focused on digital literacy education that could be accessed remotely. According to Amen, her internship at the IRC in Salt Lake City helped her find her passion for helping others.
To others finding their career paths right now, Amen says: “Go out there. Make a connection. People are out there who want to help and guide you, but they are not Gods, they can’t read your mind.”
The IRC in Salt Lake City is grateful for people like Amen who are quick to offer support, as well as the One Refugee summer interns working on our team. Through dedicated support from interns, the IRC in Salt Lake City is able to better serve the refugees and New Americans in our communities.
Learn about the current internships available & apply today at Rescue.org/InternSLC.