Summer Language Institute: A Glimpse of Houston’s Diversity

“Corteza, Manto, Nucleo Externo, Nucleo Interno”, these are the layers of the Earth. As I walked into the Dual Language Classroom I listened to children being taught about the earth's atmosphere and geography in Spanish.

For decades the reset of the world has invested heavily on multilingual programs in their curriculum, with most schools requiring children to learn English in addition to their native language. With the increase of immigration and globalization, the United States has seen its ethnic composition gravitate towards multi-ethnicity, which is forcing school districts such as Alief ISD fund programs such as the Dual Language Program. It was impressive to hear that the children in this program have been enrolled in mentioned program since kindergarten. The children learn how to read, write, and speak Spanish for seven hours, four days a week in the summer. This is an amazing program that is enabling American children to become more competitive in their future plans in their desired professions.

The Sewa Family

My first day at Sewa began on a rainy Saturday morning in Houston, TX.  I was both incredibly nervous and excited to meet my coworkers for the next 8 weeks. Within minutes of walking into the conference room, however, any nerves that I had dissipated as I became acquainted with my fellow interns. Everyone that I met was so friendly and passionate about being at Sewa. 

Although our specific interests include everything from public health to policy to community empowerment, we all came to Sewa with the shared hope of giving back to the Houston community. Each of us applied for this summer internship because we wanted to work with a large nonprofit organization that was passionate about serving the refugee community. By the end of orientation day, I had already learned more about my fellow interns’ passions and goals in addition to all the services that Sewa offers to the community. Even on the first day, we were able to communicate our vision for the internship to one another. 

By the end of our second week at Sewa, we already feel so comfortable with one another that we function as a team rather than individuals. Our team is driven, fun, supportive of one another, and occasionally sarcastic. Even though we have only been interns for a couple of weeks, I feel like I already have a family here at Sewa. As we dive into our intern duties, I am so grateful for the people who will help make the Houston community a stronger place to live.

"The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others."

Yesterday, in the car ride home from the immunization drive, I was hit with this sort of uncomfortable awareness that in the past few weeks of interning, I haven’t yet had the quintessential, social justice-y college student’s realization of “wow, I’m so privileged compared to the people that I serve.” I couldn’t quite figure out how I’ve become so unphased by the refugees, SLI students and the massive disparity between both our circumstances. Instances then started popping up in my head of my inherent impassiveness.

In my time at Los Arcos, I spend way more time making the little kids to pick up after their own selves rather than wasting even a second cleaning up after them.

This past Tuesday, one of my SLI students, Jose, couldn’t spit even a simple sentence of English out. I refused to talk to him in Spanish. Instead, I made him go through a laborious process-- I made him do the whole assignment with me in English, then I made him translate the English sentences he created to Spanish, and then I made him read the Spanish sentences out loud in English.

On career day, a little girl from Nigeria acted as our guide and led Alexis and me to different classrooms so we could speak to students about planning for the future. Before we entered one classroom, the girl excitedly pointed at the door and said that this was her class. I asked her if she liked the class, the subject, and the teacher, and she nodded her head to everything. She then told me, “I get made fun of though…”

I asked her, “Why?”

She said, “They make fun of me whenever I answer questions. They make fun of me because I’m black. They don’t like it when I answer questions.”

I told her bluntly, “Haha, that’s stupid. Just answer the questions anyway.” And then I walked into the class to speak.

Only now as I type this, I realize that this was my first encounter with a black child battling racism.

I’m not impassive.

The kids at Los Arcos keep banging on the door and beg us to play, even after we have to physically pick them up and put them outside so they can go home. They all tug at my shirt and pull on my hair, asking me to teach them new clapping games and to listen to their silly stories, worries, and dreams.

When we finished the assignment, Jose grinned and fist bumped into the air. Thirty minutes later, I was walking through the cafeteria to get to the main office, and I saw him in the lunch line. He stopped joking with his clique, stepped out of the line, and came over to hug me.

The little girl from Nigeria told me, “Yes I know. I always work hard.” She smiled, and then proudly opened the door to her classroom for Alexis and me.

I haven’t forgotten the big picture, but I’ve become lost in the details. Instead of being occupied with numbers, statistics, and circumstances, right now, I am fixated on their humanness. And this is why the vast, obvious differences between them and myself has become negligible. I’ve drowned over and over in my own immense love for them, and as a result, I’ve found such peace and happiness. I’m losing myself in helping them, but I’m finding everything that reminds me what it means to be human.

Houston is #1 in U.S. Refugee Resettlement

World Refugee Day Houston is coming up this Saturday, an event that highlights the important role Houston has played in resettling refugees from across the world. The infographic below puts into perspective the complexities of resettlement and the diversity of refugees.Check it out for a great summary ! 

SEWAaaaat?!

Positive change is a byproduct of competently utilized effort and unwavering dedication to the transformation of the status quo. When I first walked into the Sewa office and got acquainted with the staff, it was quite apparent that the foundation for facilitating the positive change necessary to ameliorate the standard of living of Bhutanese refugees had already been set.

My first week in Sewa was filled with orientations and acclimating to the SLI and Los Arcos initiatives. The SLI tutorial program allowed me to engage with a younger demographic of refugees and immigrants struggling with language barriers. Through hands-on tutelage and basic trial and error, I was able to gauge effective ways to communicate with all relevant stakeholders (teachers, students, administrators). While some teachers were blatantly uncomfortable by having another adult presence in their classroom, the majority of them were extremely welcoming and appreciative for our assistance.

Volunteering at the Los Arcos Apartments was extremely gratifying and provided a crucial insight to the plights and dispositions of Sewa’s Bhutanese beneficiaries. While some of the interns were setting up the registration process, I was able to have direct contact with one of the Bhutanese boys that grew up in a Nepalese refugee camp. He wasn’t timid at all about sharing his experiences in the refugee camp and his high level of cognizance about his own family’s socio economic status was truly astonishing. We discussed his future plans and I presented college as a feasible alternative to immediately entering the work force. The boy was very intuitive and started asking questions about the requisites to pursue higher education. Overall, my first week at Sewa was extremely fulfilling and I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to serve this nonprofit.

SEWA....

These past two weeks that I have been in this organization have been amazing. Sewa is a grass root non-profit organization that provides services to the Bhutanese refugees who come to the United States for better settlement. Sewa also volunteers at Alief ISD as tutors to students in SLI. These students come from different countries for better education. I joined Sewa to work in the Get Inspired Houston summer internship. This is my first internship ever so I was a bit nervous about it. The first week I got oriented with the other interns. Four of us will be on the public health and family services team while the remaining two will be in the women and refugee empowerment team.

            The Bhutanese refugees reside in Los Arcos Apartment Complex. Here, Sewa has an apartment where we provide them with typing, sewing and computer classes, which should start shortly. We also engage the children in various activities. Last week I go to work one on one with a typing student and to my surprise she was doing extremely well. This week she went forward towards the speaking aspect of English and she pronounced the words with little or no difficulty. The children in this complex were all eager and excited seeing us. They all introduced themselves to us and warmed up to us quickly. We played different games and did a little karaoke.

            The most interesting part is working with the kids in the SLI program; they all seem eager and ready to learn. I’m so excited about the internship rendering my time and services to these families is something I feel happy and at peace doing. I really look forward to learning different aspects of their culture and identity. Below I have a picture with one of the kids from the apartment.