Second Week In

This is the end of my second week interning with International Rescue Committee as a Resettlement Shop Intern. So far this experience has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had. Don’t get me wrong, it is quite overwhelming with this huge monetary amount that I need to meet keeps going up and if I don’t significantly raise our numbers programs at IRC will not be funded adequately. However, my reward doesn’t really come from meeting my monetary goals like I thought going into this internship, instead helping refugees in their first few months here is the reward.

I would explain my internship to friends and family however no one seemed to understand the magnitude of how simply great this opportunity is. It is not just hanging newly arrived peoples’ a bag of clothes and send them on their way; it is connecting with people who have seen horrors of disaster and war. Going through the process of obtaining refugee status is a tedious process and can be dangerous and frustrating. It can take months and years no matter the situation at hand; families can be separated- no matter the age.

When refugees come to America, it is no doubt overwhelming- all these new products, surroundings, people, and languages. My internship allows me to become a familiar face to them; it allows me to be someone they can trust; it grants me the opportunity to work with people who just arrived in the United States.

What is great about this internship is that I get the chance to see people excited about the possibilities here and I can gave them the chance to tell me about their country which gives a sense of empowerment in a way.

Today was a great day at the IRC shop. This man from Africa had been here for a few months with his  children and wife. The father has been working hard in ESL classes and you can tell he is excited to learn English. He asked if I had numbers books today. We didn’t but I showed him notebooks and children’s books. We sat on the floor and he read this children’s book to me. It was amazing to see this man who has gone through hell sitting next to me with a smile on his face showing me, proud of the fact, that he is able to read some English. He then picked up a notebook and two different colored markers and told me how he is teaching his kids numbers. He was so happy that he could do this. Sitting there on the floor with him showing me how he counts in the twenties and telling me in fragments of sentences of course, how he teaches his kids at home on the whiteboard he got… that made the day so special, along with me crawling on the floor with his kids teaching them the names of animals.

Maybe instant gratification is a bad thing; but I love seeing the reaction of people coming into my store and seeing how happy it makes them.

So far I am loving this internship and I’m so excited to exceed my numbers and see how I can implement new ideas that will promote the work of IRC.