Summer Interns: 2013 (Week 1!)

Hello everyone!

The Sewa Houston Internship program for the 2013 season is currently in its first week and we are already coming up with some ideas for the summer! All the interns here are very excited to start working our hardest to benefit the Bhutanese refugee community and to help better the lives of refugees here in Houston any way we can. There are a lot of important projects coming up over the next few months, so be sure to check this blog and our website (sewausa.org) for updates.

This year, there are 11 interns divided into 4 important areas of focus: 

PR/Grant writing team:

As you can see, our team has updated the GIH blog! Do you like the new layout? We've been busy updating our Twitter and Facebook accounts and will be introducing ourselves via twitter soon, so stay tuned! We are also working at posting more complete intern bios/profiles on our main website so readers can get to know each awesome person involved a little bit more. Our team has also been creating new photos for the website, will be visiting the Los Arcos refugee community, and have begun planning some advertising for the upcoming Immunization drives. We are hoping to have a public service announcement running on public radio 90.1 KPFT by July 5^th.

Children's Activities / Youth Mentorship:

Starting next week the team will be going to the Los Arcos and Alief worksites to help children and adults with skill-building, English tutoring, and adjustment to the American way of life. During the month of June, Alief ISD will be offering a summer program for refugee children grades 4-11 who have been in the United States for less than two years.  As a result, a majority of the refugee children in the area will be attending as they learn the routines and language of American schooling. This week the CA group has been planning and constructing many fun projects for the kids that they will really enjoy. Not only will they bond with our interns, but they will bond with each other within the community as well.

Public Health:

The Public Health team has been researching the Bhutanese/Nepali refugees in order to understand the community. This week they met some of the members of the Los Arcos community and are currently making surveys to hand out to the community. The team hopes to educate the community on the importance of their health and the basics of healthcare here in the states. Later on this summer, the team will be responsible for the immunization drive by contacting doctors, getting volunteers, and producing a big turn out from the community. We are in great need of volunteers because of the expected high-turnout from individuals seeking immunizations and physical exams. If you would like to volunteer your time to help us with paperwork, crowd control, managing patient intake, or translating (especially in Somalian), please contact us at gih@sewausa.org.

Family Services / Community Empowerment: 

Currently, the Family Services team has been busy coming up with ideas for the local community in order to provide them with skills that could benefit them in the future. They've been calling local craft stores asking for donations in order to supply the community with the resources in order to make these ideas possible. If you have any materials you wish to donate, please contact us at gih@sewausa.org. Any contribution is appreciated, particularly children’s art supplies such as glue sticks, scissors, colored paper, or toys.

Local Updates:

In addition to all our work, we wish to offer condolences for the four fire fighters lost in the 5-alarm blaze on May 31^st here in Houston and have been working to advertise ways in which local Houstonians can donate monetary support for the victims’ families. In times of tragedy such as this, when dedicated, brave people are lost to terrible accidents, we must stand together as a community and hold up those who have been hurt and have endured heartbreaking loss. Houston has risen above and beyond the occasion, showing just how loyal and supportive we are as a city. At 10 this morning, the Houston Texans offered up Reliant Stadium as a venue for a massive Houston Firefighter memorial large enough to house 40,000 visitors, and a prayer meeting was held last night by the local Indian community of Houston at India House.  If you wish to donate to support the victims and their families, please visit the Houston chapter of the Red Cross at www.redcross/tx/houston or www.the100club.org, a local group that has taken on the majority of the fundraising responsibility. You can also purchase memorial tee shirts from The 100 Club. All proceeds will be given to the families of the victims.

That is all for now! By next week we will have another update for everyone! In the meantime, please pray for Matthew Renaud, Robert Bebee, Robert Garner, Anne Sullivan, and their families in this time of tragedy.