By Ivan Tsebeni
While the rest of her classmates sought for internship placements outside, Olivia Kamusiime a third year student pursuing Bachelor of mass Communication, couldn’t ignore an opportunity to join Uganda Christian University (UCU) newspaper The Standard when the opportunity availed itself.
Kamusiime says the choice she made turned out to become a breakthrought for her as she can now do multiple journalistic tasks.
She believes that her choice has enabled her to realize her dream of learning how to use several equipment such as cameras and computers. Kamusiime’s writing skills have drastically changed for the better, something she attributes to approachable friends and the supervisor.
“I have learnt a lot from my friends. I have also been introduced to many offices, and met many people,” Kamusiime said.
“My supervisor, Jimmy is very supportive and whenever I bring my work to him, he teaches me how to become better,” Kamusiime said.
Kamusiime, a married lactating mother, saw UCU’s The Standard as a convenient place for learning since it is located close to her place of residence. She says that it is easy for her to learn from ‘home’.
“You get to be attended to very easily since we are few people doing internship and in a usual environment. Learning from my teachers appeared a big deal for me,” she said.
Kamusiime believes that acquiring skills is what matters when doing internship adding that a period of two months is just enough for one’s learning.
According to Franklin Adeka the Internship Coordinator,the School of Journalism and Communication currently has over 83 students doing their internships. Adeka said that the internship would take learners eight weeks.
“We expect our students to get hands on training. This will enable them put the theories they have attained in class to practice,” Adeka said.
Adeka also said that the internship helps learners to taste what happens in the real world saying, “they get to experience real job life.”
Joseph Kiva the internship coordinating lecturer at the School of Journalism,Media and Communication said that students ought to take internship seriously since it introduces them to the job market. He added that the efforts students put in during internship may yield them jobs in the end.
“Of course, internship placements open doors to many job opportunities. If you get to intern, you are setting your foot in a job world,” Kiva said.
According to UCU’s program, students break off after each year of study to go for their internships. However, only students in the final year are supervised and reports are required of them at the end of their internship programs.
Despite the bed of roses, Kamusiime is not immune to hardships that come her way in an effort to acquire skills. “I get so much irritated with unfavourable weather on some days. It makes me delay reaching office,” she said.
Kamusiime also faces difficulties in balancing housework, which she says is very demanding , with internship training.
“My baby is only eight months and therefore needs much attention. I find it a little difficult leaving her unattended to,” Kamusiime said.
Kamusiime got a baby in her second year of study making her register for a dead semester to allow herself time to take adequate care of her first born baby. “Taking a dead semester was kinda a harder decision I made, but, of course it was necessary. I decided to wait for a year below me,” she said addng that her family has always supported her.
Much as some people might find it difficult to take such a decision, Kamusiime found it normal and human enough to first attend to the life of the little one whom she calls a blessing from God.
