Tomorrow I am going to meet the refugee
family that I will be working with through World Relief this semester. I am
very excited because my group is actually able to meet the family at the Moline
airport as they first arrive in their new hometown. It is amazing to be
included in such a life-changing moment. I hope that we are able to make them
feel welcome and excited about this new chapter in their lives. I have many
hopes for my service-learning project with World Relief. My main goal is to aid
the family in their adjustment to life in the United States. I hope to make the
family feel comfortable and completely at home here in the Quad Cities. This is
such a big change in their lives; I know that I would need a great deal of help
if I had to move to a foreign country, and I want to do all that I can to ease
their transition into life in America. During my time with the family, I also
hope to improve my intercultural communication skills. I have not had a lot of
experience communicating with individuals from other cultures, so I know that
my skills can only improve from where they are now.
The site of my service learning is
the family’s home. World Relief finds the family an affordable house or
apartment, so I do not expect that their home will be anything extravagant. I
am sure, however, that it will be a nice place for them to call home. I expect
that the family will generally speak their native language within their home.
If I moved to a different country with my family, I would speak my own language
within my house. It would give me a sense of comfort and familiarity to be able
to retain some part of my culture. I expect that the family will do the same,
and I expect to learn a great deal about their culture because of this.
I learned a lot about World Relief
in the past two weeks. I know now that they play a large role in helping
refugees assimilate into a new culture. World Relief helps the family make
arrangements to travel to America. Once the family arrives, World Relief finds
them an apartment or house and furnishes it. They also do one week’s worth of
grocery shopping. In addition, World Relief aids the refugees in getting social
security numbers, drivers’ licenses, and jobs. World Relief volunteers often
help teach the refugees basic English and essential skills such as counting
money. World Relief is an amazing organization that does wonders in helping the
refugees resettle.
World Relief serves the refugee
population in the Quad Cities and several other areas throughout the United
States. These refugees come from all over the world. The refugees that come to
the Quad Cities are generally Burmese or Bhutanese.
I am very interested in the work
that World Relief does here in the Quad Cities and abroad. The work that they
do is absolutely essential and is life-saving and life-changing for the people
that they help. The refugee population seems to be rather under-served in our
community, which makes the work that World Relief does even more important. I
am really looking forward to beginning my service project with World Relief.
(written on September 12, 2013)
