High in the Andes Mountains, Human Needs and Global Resources (HNGR) intern Holly Braun ’08 spent six months near the Peruvian city of Ayacucho. There she recorded the stories of women who lost almost all of their family to that country’s devastating 20-year civil war. Sometimes in life, we have experiences that burst the seams of our identities, and for many HNGR students, the internship is one of these experiences,” says Holly. Her experience in Ayacucho left a lasting impression, and every year she returns to Peru to visit her internship site often staying for several weeks.

From the Peruvians with whom she worked, she learned how to come alongside the underrepresented. It is a skill she uses every day in her work with Tierra Nueva, an organization in Washington State that advocates for migrant workers, the incarcerated, and gang members. Holly says, “I know I want to continue working with marginalized people. I find part of myself in them. It’s a really beautiful breaking of barriers— more so for me than for them.”