She’s been behind each event that we have hosted this year. As a community outreach assistant, Rachel Bernstein has made herself an absolute asset to our CandleX team. She has given countless hours to this organization and the Beijing community. It has been a pleasure to have her on the team and she has made a huge contribution. Now this May, she's moving back to the United States. We are sad to see her leave, but we give her our best wishes as she begins this new chapter in life.
Let’s hear what she says about working with CandleX.
Hi everyone, my name is Rachel Bernstein. I am a 19-year-old American living in Beijing, China. A few months ago, I decided I would like to work in Beijing and learn what it would be like to live (and work) in the real world, oy vey! So, for the past few months I have been working as the Community Outreach Assistant for CandleX.
CandleX is an amazing organization and has taught me so much. I have accomplished tasks such as: writing articles for CandleX, being on-site support for both the free community events and the charity events where I was able to improve my public speaking skills, I was also able to improve my camera skills by taking photos at each event, I learnt to create appealing posters, IEC’s, movies, etc., and even got to practice my Chinese as I made my way around Beijing looking for places to hang up our posters.
Xiaojie and Rachel out in Ritan Park for work
I have enjoyed the work immensely. It is a fairly new NGO, its one-year anniversary was in April, and therefore, the work tends to be demanding. However, there is always support from coworkers.
Rachel's first Psychiatric Group Home Visit with the team
Even though the work is a bit demanding, it is always extremely rewarding. Working for an NGO that supports mental illnesses will always make you feel like you are helping someone out, no matter what the current assignment you are working on is.
Rachel giving an overview of CandleX meditation workshop
Besides events held within Beijing, CandleX is purely run on computers, which is great because you can work from home, from a café, anywhere. Working with CandleX means you set your own schedule and this means that if you are working a full time job, you can still work with CandleX. Also, if you are like me, taking a year off and looking for a job that will give you experience, you can work with CandleX and still have time to tour around Beijing and even travel outside of it.
Rachel having dinner with Xiaojie, first time that we didn’t work while hanging out.
I am heading home to America so that I can start my university education, and this means I am sadly leaving CandleX. I wish them all the best in the future!