A Day in the Life of a TBI Intern

Inside the TBI Internship Program and What its Like to Be an Intern

Kenya faces a stark reality: nearly 67% of youth aged 15–34 are unemployed. While no single program can solve that crisis alone, the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) believes in doing its part by turning curiosity into careers. The TBI Internship Program was created to give students, recent graduates, and early-career professionals a stepping stone into research, conservation, and technical fields. Set both in the Nairobi office and deep in the remote scientifically rich Turkana Basin, interns live and work at TBI’s Campus, a significant fossil site and a hub for interdisciplinary research.

Over the course of three months, interns are paired with mentors, embedded into real projects, and supported with a stipend, field training, and career guidance. They work across departments ranging from archaeology and astrophysics to kitchen operations, logistics, and IT, learning how science gets done in the field.

Applications for the pilot round opened in November 2024. Within four days, over 220 young people applied. Most were recent graduates, highlighting the program’s importance in bridging academic learning with practical, employable skills. Those selected engaged in a dynamic networking event, where they met TBI staff, explored career paths.

Reflections from the Ground in Ileret

So, what does a typical day at the Turkana Basin Institute actually look like for an intern? It depends on who you ask.

Interns came from different disciplines. History, IT, astrophysics, but shared a common thread. They arrived curious and left transformed. For Agnes Katana, her day started at 6 a.m. later followed by a walk across the still morning of Ileret to get to the fossil prep lab. There, she would spend hours cleaning and cataloguing specimens, brushing over fossils. She recalls the excitement of handling first-hand fossils and the fulfillment of being part of a team that felt like family. People who were “heartwarming and understanding.”

For Mary Macharia, the lab was more than a workspace it was a launchpad for innovation. Her internship was rooted in the Research Department, where she took on the challenge of accessing biological specimens, photographing, documenting, and digitizing everything from plant remains to field notes. What stood out wasn’t just the detail of the work, but her idea to develop a QR code system for fossil access. “Every day felt like a page in a living textbook,” she said.

Mike Anubi on the other hand, a culinary intern, helped in serving up meals at sunrise and sunset, guided to craft menus that fueled everyone from visiting scientists to student researchers. “When the students gave positive feedback on the dishes we made, that was my highlight,” he recalls. His time at TBI taught him not just kitchen management, but teamwork, adaptability, and leadership.

Allan Ogoye, an IT intern from the Cooperative University of Kenya, spent his days immersed in 3D scanning technology. He learned to create high-resolution digital models of fossils and artifacts, an area he hadn’t even heard of before coming to TBI. “My first thought was that TBI was all about human origins,” he says, “but then I got hands-on with tech I never imagined I’d use.” His work gave him insight not just into digital documentation, but into the broader applications of 3D scanning in conservation, design, and education. It also strengthened his attention to detail, spatial awareness, and file management. “It’s been a valuable, technical learning experience,” he reflects. One that’s building his foundation for a tech-driven career in heritage preservation.

Emmanuel Maingi, with a background in Anthropology, took on a cross cutting role supporting coordination and logistics. His day began early, often by reviewing schedules and inboxes, attending planning meetings, and following up on procurement or communications tasks. “Each day has something different, which helps me learn how operations support scientific work,” he says. Emmanuel shared how even a simple task like drafting a food budget became a learning moment gaining some new confidence in project planning. Emmanuel ended up supporting TBI’s Internship Day event and did so well in a different field.

Meanwhile, Wesley Otieno and Goretti Biwot were turning their eyes to the sky. As astrophysics interns, their days blended research, data analysis, and stargazing sessions under some of the clearest night skies in Kenya. Goretti still remembers the moment she saw Saturn’s rings through the lens, “a definite ‘wow’ moment,” she says. Wesley even nicknamed a friendly puff adder outside his cottage “Wahu” and welcomed curious visitors to meet his unusual companion.

But not every moment was easy. The remoteness, the heat, and the initial cultural adjustments were real challenges for those in North Kenya. What binds all these stories together is a deep sense of growth. Interns didn’t just learn, they adapted, contributed, and found inspiration at the Basin. Whether scanning fossils, digitizing records, or preparing tea for researchers, they all became part of something bigger.

So what does a typical day in the life of a TBI intern look like? There’s no single answer. But ask any of them, and they’ll likely say the same thing: it changed how they view their work and themselves.