By Preeya Grewal

Aske Nørby Bonde has been putting SFU’s motto “Engaging the World” into practice, quite literally.

An international student from Denmark, he convocates this month with a BA in international studies and French, and will begin graduate school in Switzerland this fall. As well, he has just returned from a six-month internship at the Danish embassy in Burkina Faso, Africa, where he helped manage Denmark’s bilateral development aid to the West African nation.

Bonde says he chose SFU for its international studies program, flexible trimester system and proximity to Vancouver, with its natural beauty and multiculturalism.

And while the internship was not in partnership with SFU, Bonde says his education complemented his experience in Burkina Faso.

“I found it fascinating to help with a security conference, given my specialisation in ‘conflict and security studies’ at SFU,” says Bonde, who wrote an honours thesis on the lack of reliable demographic statistics in sub-Saharan Africa.

A field visit to observe how farmers benefit from the embassy’s development support was, he says, “incredibly rewarding because I was face-to-face with exactly the people, institutions and economic incentives I had learned about for the past four years."

While Bonde enjoyed working at the embassy, he did endure some hardships.

The plus-30-degree evenings in his non-air conditioned room made it difficult to sleep, causing his productivity to suffer.

“My colleagues had swimming pools, drivers, maids and guards, but I now understand that such amenities are quite necessary in order to be productive in those surroundings,” he says.

A week after his  arrival, France started a military intervention in Mali, leaving Burkina Faso vulnerable to targeting by extremists.

“We had to revise our evacuation strategies, reconsider our transportation habits, and use increased discretion about our work.”

This fall, he begins a master’s degree in international development at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

His goal is to work in development and humanitarian assistance.

“At the risk of sounding naïve, I’d like to help push for more just living conditions for vulnerable population groups.”