Evelien Gerene, Ibrahim Moumouh and Joey Ceunen are students who weren’t looking for the average internship experience. Instead of knocking on the doors of media corporations, they turned to Antwerp-based Designers Against Aids (DAA) to complete their communication studies with some hands-on experience.

As a reward for their enthusiasm and confidence in the relevancy of DAA’s cause, they are currently enjoying their final days of what has to be both the most unusual and challenging internship in Flanders.

“This is definitely not a boring place,” says Ceunen. “We meet lots of very different people, from CEOs at companies like H&M to local ecological gardeners.” The students are included in every activity going on at DAA, from promoting the non-profit organisation’s new book to planning the RESPECT festival that will take place in September.

As they are the first participants in the educational programme, they have kind of functioned as guinea pigs. “The atmosphere is very relaxed because we’re actually ‘testing’ the experience before the first international students arrive this summer,” explains Ceunen.

Which is not to say the experience is any less educational for these Belgians. “We’ve visited the Fashion Museum and The Pink House, we’ve been taught yoga by our programme manager, and we’ve made a spiritual walk through the woods,” says Gerene. “It’s not your standard internship! But what I love most is that people here actually respectfully listen to what you have to say – which is not always the case at big companies where you have to make coffee and copies, and that’s it.”

Apparently, this is one internship that not only proves to be rewarding professionally, but personally as well. Read more about the trio’s experiences at the DAA centre on their blog: www.designersagainstaids.com/ihaec_blog