US intern Ben Fraimow shares his experiences of his time spent with OBV

On the first day of our internship program, all 330 students in the Boston University Internship program jumped onto buses and trains, spreading out throughout London to internships in a strange and foreign country.

I won’t deny my level of apprehension at that moment, heading across the city to work on an issue that, as an American, I was woefully under-informed about. My level of apprehension upon arrival at Operation Black Vote only increased when within minutes, I was given a phone and asked to call up a couple of MPs to convince them to attend the event it was now my job to help organize.

Upon getting the assistant of an MP on the phone, I stammered and stuttered my way through the conversation, and when I hung up, I could barely remember if I had even asked him to attend.

The nerves would quickly fade however, and as I settled in, I began to learn. I began to talk to my fellow employees, who are all so passionate about what they do here. As I listened to everyone talk to each other, I couldn’t help but become passionate myself. I learned the numbers, just 27 out of 650 MPs who are BME, or a paltry 4 percent.

In London itself, a city where more than 30 percent of residents are from ethnic minority backgrounds, just 4 out of the 25 London Assembly members can call themselves BME, or 16 percent.

As I learned the numbers, the facts, and the figures, the importance of the event I was planning became clear to me. This event was a chance to educate, a chance to help even a few people realize the changes they can make by getting involved.

Each day spent here brought with it new tasks and new challenges. From day one my primary job was to help plan the Who Runs London event. I’ve been to a number of events over my lifetime, of varying size and scope. Until this moment however, I never realized how much time and effort went into getting one up and running.

The idea itself was simple enough: you need speakers and guests. The reality however, is a jumbled mass of phone calls, invitations, and research. From mass mailouts to individual phone calls, no stone was left unturned in our quest for a successful event.

Every member of the staff provided their own expertise to me, from experiences of their own events to their own unique knowledge of a certain skill that would prove handy in my work.

In the end, through great effort by the entire Who Runs team, and what I can only hope was at least a minimal amount of help from me, the Who Runs London event was a success.

The group of dedicated individuals who turned up were passionate and hungry for information and answers. The group of speakers we compiled were knowledgeable and engaging.

The speakers I managed to converse with seemed genuinely enthused about having an opportunity to spread their message. At the event’s close, I felt that every attendee left that building with a new take on London, and hopefully would pass on what they had learned.

When Simon first sat me down at the beginning of this internship, I had to admit I knew very little about the problems OBV was trying to tackle. Two months later, I’m happy to say I helped contribute to the cause of OBV, even if it was only one event I was able to help with. The amount I learned here I cannot even describe.

I head back to America with new knowledge about community empowerment, about getting involved, and possibly how to talk on the telephone as well.

By Ben Fraimow