Love and Service

In the summer of 2017, I had a chance to intern with New American Pathways as an Operations Intern. New American Pathways is a successful refugee resettlement agency in Atlanta. In my first week, I was amazed about how the work environment was like a family place. When I paid more attention, I learned how much staff members have to do in order to have an immigrant well settled. This made me more curious and I wanted to know what goes on in the background in order to have such success. I came to learn that all it takes is love. Love is not a qualification one can take and employ in every field, although it is an important aspect of human life. Although New American Pathways, like any other nonprofit organization, faces challenges of limited resources, the love they put in their work is immeasurably another force behind their success. They take time to understand the behaviors of their clients and determine how to serve each of them. It does not matter if someone is tempered (as a result of experience) or not

Knowing that at the internship is a place of learning, I made myself flexible and offered to be helping with tasks that needed to be done especially with immigrants’ walk-in days of the week.  While interning with the operations department, I volunteered to work at the reception in order to enhance my experience. While working at the reception, I observed behaviors of human nature of selfishness where everyone wanted to be served immediately without considering who came first. Some expected me to listen to them and do what they wanted because they were elders. This is how some cultures are.  At this internship, I was first challenged culturally as I did not know how to send people back and tell them to stay organized in the order of their arrival. However, I learned how to communicate assertively while being mindful of the people I was serving and their needs. Although talking assertively to an elder person can be considered disrespectful in my culture, I learned that American culture different from mine. I also learned more ways of approaching situations in different settings.

My identity as an intern and my responsibility at the site did not only teach me to love my work and those I am serving others, but also to be supportive in every way I could while at my internship site. In fact, the experience I got from working at New American Pathways, both office work and the interactions with people while working at the reception increased my love for public service.

This experience relates to learning outcomes:

Communicate effectively through writing and speaking, especially across cultural or linguistic differences

Articulate and appraise problems and solutions from multiple perspectives, critically considering diverse sources of information

Identity

Credit: Identity by Tisiya Mahoro licensed by (CC BY-NC-ND4.0)

If there is an identity one can ever take, it is that of a global citizen. I don’t mean just saying it with your lips. Living like a global citizen gives an experience that can never be replaced. Of vital importance to global citizenship is becoming a mindful citizen. Born in D.R.Congo, growing up in Uganda, living in South Africa, then to the United States of America have given me a rich identity. An identity I cannot derive from policies made by political leaders, but from my lived experience. In the spring of 2016, my global class was planned to travel to Martinique. I was excited until I realized that I cannot go, because of Visa issues. However, I was ready for anything to come my way. My alternative destination became New Orleans where I found a place that made my spring break one of my best moments in the USA.

I love to hear and learn from people’s lived experiences. Traveling to New Orleans, I met people who were still suffering the effects of hurricane Katrina after 15 good years. It was surprising and disappointing at the same time seeing an American struggling to have a good housing. I asked myself why, but I never got a satisfying answer. I didn’t need to know either, but rather do what I could be able to do. I was with a team of students and two staff members and we worked with a group called “Rebuilding New Orleans”, helping to rebuild houses that were later sold to teachers in the area. Although it was tiring, I was encouraged to work as much as I can especially digging the road that was not rebuilt since Hurricane Katrina. Because this road was never rebuilt, when it rained, the place always experienced flash flood which is always a threat to peoples’ lives

Credit: “identity” by John Hain is licensed under public domain

For the course of the week, every day left me with strength and courage to face the future. I wondered where the government was when its people were dawning in the hurricane Katrina, I wondered why are people still not well settled after 10 years, and I wonder why people from other countries fail to build their own home and yearn to go to America. I learned to appreciate my own home, though I don’t have a home as everyone would describe it… I am a global citizen.

I love to hear stories, but hearing from Katrina survivors opened my mind. I stopped having a perception that all Americans have a stable life. I stopped complaining about being a refugee and not having someone I could cry to after hearing from a woman who lost a family after days of struggle yet she had a government she looked up to for salvation. After hearing from a woman who became a refugee in her own country, and now he was about to occupy a house that I contributed to its construction, was the most empowering experience.

It did not end in New Orleans and it will never end. I am committed to serving people everywhere I go. Home is where I can serve those who need my service.

This experience relates to SUM learning outcomes below

Critically examine the relationship between dominant and marginalized cultures, subcultures or groups

Identify, explain, and analyze global themes, processes and systems

They call it Summit, I call it experience.

Agnes Scott is diverse, but it wouldn’t be significant if diversity was just different colors on this campus. Agnes Scott’s mission of educating women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times wouldn’t be meaningful if it was not the true experience we get from being part of the school/ community. Agnes Scott has created a diverse environment where one is able to gain global experience, but most importantly, Agnes Scott has enabled me to learn and live its values through Summit.

My favorite topic under the summit/ global class was mindfulness. Under this topic, I read stories of people who were judged based on their identity and how it made their lives hard. These readings made me reflect back on my secondary school experience and how I always got questioned about my identity and how it was a draining experience every time I had to deal with it. The USA is my fourth country to live in (RDC, Uganda, South Africa & USA), nevertheless, I still experienced cultural shock and stories I read made me understand how my behaviors can impact someone’s experience either positively or negatively. Another important part was the research about the cultures and history of Martinique, a country that was to be a travel destination for my global class. In this research, I was able to connect people’s cultures with their history. Learning about people through their history is the best way of learning and celebrating diversity. In my classes, I was not only taught to be diverse but also my mind was challenged and every day I learned how to question my beliefs, my perceptions about different behaviors and accept other people’s lifestyle without compromising my values.

While I learned and questioned my perception, I found the courage to question some aspects of Agnes Scott operational culture. For the first few weeks at Agnes Scott, I felt the orientation had not prepared me enough to live in such a diverse environment.  It was through a crucial discussion with professors and staff members that I came to understand how diverse the school was and how much the school have done to make everything possible. Through this, I was able to give feedback and also got involved in campus activities so that I can contribute to bringing changes that I desired. The following year, I was involved in the student orientation council where I participated in Orientation for first years. I was not only happy for contributing to first years’ experience as they started the next chapter of their lives, but also seeing that the feedback I shared was incorporated into the program. After this experience, I was determined to get involved in different activities in order to experience the beauty of Agnes Scott College. I am humbled to serve as a vice president of international students Association.

I am not only encouraged to be part of my community at Agnes Scott College, but beyond.

This experience relates to learning outcomes below

Identify and assess one’s values, interests and abilities

Analyze human behavior or social relations

Recognize, analyze, and employ effective teamwork