A Major Disappointment

Given that my time is running short in South Africa I thought it might be prudent to start applying for jobs for the winter which I could work at while finishing my thesis. The perfect opportunity seemed to present itself when my program secretary sent an email advertising an internship with a UK based NGO. The internship was in Liberia and involved conducting nearly the same research that I have been doing for my thesis just in a different country context. Looking at the qualifications I seemed to fit the bill and eagerly applied for the position. Almost immediately I got a very positive response from the individual in charge of coordinating the internship and was certain that I would at least get an interview. A week went by after the application process closed and I hadn't heard anything so I emailed the individual and he responded that things were not moving as quickly as he would like because the process had become very bureaucratic within his office. So I waited. After another week passed, today I sent another inquiry and receivedthis as the response "The truth is that I really liked your application. I had you as my second choice to interview, based on the strength of your experience in SALW. Unfortunately, this selction process has become very politicized and I've lost a lot of control over it." The email was more detailed to that and responded to the question of how I might improve any future applications. Obviously this has left me with a few questions like what politics made someone within the office feel that I was less qualified than one of the other applicants. Needless to say I am feeling very disappointed and very discouraged about my job search. A bit of a damper on my last week in SA.