Pre-Service Blog

        My hopes for the service-learning project are equally spread between the benefits of the refugee family and also for myself. I do not mean that in a selfish way. I hope that they will give me the honor of teaching me as much as I hope I can teach them about making a successful life in America. I am not hoping to gain a quantity of knowledge from them, but I am more concerned about the quality. If I do my part right I am looking forward to being able to teach them more in regards to quantity. However, if I am only able to learn one thing from them, then it is my wish that I can fully understand the quality of that lesson and that means more to me than anything else. I believe that if we can both forget about our differences in background we can focus first on coming closer as individuals and working together as one unit. The success for the service-learning project does not depend on one of us nor is one individual's success independent from the other's. Everyone involved is dependent on everyone else. I hope to gain their trust so that we may become closer and possibly even continue to stay in touch with one another even after my 10 hours has passed. Another significant hope that I have is to grow a stronger relationship with my group. In order to overcome some of the difficulties that we may face, we need to be comfortable enough to express how we are feeling so to insure each other that nobody is alone in this project.

       
        I am trying not to make any assumptions so that if the conditions do not match my assumptions, which is very likely, I can just accept that what I am given is how it is. All I can do is make the best out of what is handed to me. Unfortunately, because I am a human being, I do find myself caught up in thinking about what my future has in store for me. I know that they will be living in an apartment building in Moline, Illinois, but have not heard very much else about what they will call their home. I assume that because their are so many refugee families that World Relief has taken under their wing, the conditions are not as ideal as what I am accustomed to. It would be very difficult for this foundation to provide expensive living for these families, so I assume that it will not be as cleanly and big as my home, but I understand their situation and will do my best to overcome any challenges I face with the apartment. I can also assume that the family may not like me at first because they may not see at first how understanding I am of their situation and what they have had to go through. Even so, I will do my best to keep my head up and know that even if they push me away at first, they still need my help. 

       
        All that I know about the refugee population is what Kelly and one of our facilitations has informed me about them. I know that they were forced out of their homes and their lives have been filled with challenges that I could never imagine facing. They had to deal with military men, guns, and violence all around them. I especially cannot imagine having this as part of my childhood. I can only assume that one of their first emotions that they have felt is fear. Being a parent in their situation must be extremely heart breaking as well. Knowing that what you call your home for so many years and then watching that very home being torn away from your children. I assume that these parents feel some what responsible for putting their children in that situation even though it was not their fault at all. Also, having to know that you may never see your homeland again must be so hard for them and I will do my best to learn to understand how they are feeling.

       
        My greatest passion is to help people that need me most. All through high school, I would be that friend that anyone could turn to whether it was for advice or if they just needed someone to listen to them. I have the tendency to take the emotions of the people that I am helping and take them in as my own. I am very good at looking at the world through other peoples eyes as well as connecting to how they feel. A key part of any decisions that I make is how the people around me are going to be affected by me. I have put myself in situations that are not always the best, but I do not regret many of my mistakes because they make me the person I am today. They allow me to go back to a time when I might have felt the same as someone else and decide what I needed most in that time of need and use that to give to others. This has also been a large part of my career choice as well. Although being a physical therapist is mainly for physical needs, I intend to help my patients in any mental and emotional way that I can. This family that I am blessed to be given the chance to help needs me more than anyone else I have ever helped before. I am excited to expand my passion as much as needed in order to help this family as best as I can.