A couple of weeks ago I started my Junior Social Work internship through NYU at the International Rescue Committee in Manhattan (IRC). IRC is a non-profit organization that has a resettlement department which essentially does all it can to provide comfort and opportunities for refugees to thrive in the United States. Refugees are people fleeing from persecution and war in their own countries which had become no longer safe for them. Asylees are also assisted at IRC. It was explained to me that the difference between an asylee and a refugee is that a refugee applies to enter the country and tries get into the country, whereas an asylee is a person already in the U.S. who applies for government support as a refugee, usually because his/her country had become too dangerous for them to return.
My role as an intern, other than typical office work, is to make life easier and more comfortable for the clients as well as the staff. I have done the filing type stuff, but the other things I need to do are: set-up a clients home before they are planning to arrive in this country as a refugee, that means going shopping on the small budget that the government gives them, and then going to their apartment (usually in the Bronx) to prepare and have food ready for them too. Once they arrive they have lots of paperwork and appointments to go to, which interns (me) accompany them to. Appointments like social security, bank, medical, you name it. IRC also works with them on their language barriers and employment because many come in with very poor knowledge of English and the better they are at English the more likely they are to get a better quality job and to keep that job.
The entire experience is very interesting, and I don't get bored ever. I always feel bad for people waiting in the waiting room for hours not knowing when they're going to be seen because they may or may not have understood that they were asked to wait. I also just feel bad for them waiting because a lot of the processes involved with being a refugee or an asylee also involve a lot of waiting and exhaustion. Many of them don't want to be here because the only reason they left their country is because it is too dangerous for them to be there: where everything they know, speak, eat, and have a community with are still sitting.
I couldn't imagine moving to another country without an option of when, where, how, or even who with; not to mention the huge language barrier that I would have to work through in order to feel the least bit comfortable while trying to survive and use all of the policies to my benefit rather than allowing them to make things more difficult for me. And believe me, some governmental policies concerning these issues are more likely to make life more difficult than any easier and are often very unfair. A prime example of the unfairness is this; A refugee has three months to find a job in this country (fair) and each refugee is given $900 a month to get on his/her feet (fair). However, refugees are placed all across the country in urban, suburban, and rural settings, but still all begin with $900 a month (not fair). A refugee placed in Manhattan has to survive off the same amount of money as a person living in Podunk-No-Where. Refugees can request to be placed with friends/family who are already in the United States but ultimately have no say in the matter (not fair).
Overall the policies tend to be the things that frustrate me most, and I have barely dipped my foot into the pool I am about to swim in.
My first day my clients were two couples, one with a baby. They had just flown in from across the world the day before, and the next day they had to wake up bright and early to spend at least 6 hours on the metro and waiting in waiting rooms. I was with them for 4 of those 6 hours. My job was to take them to register at social security. Lots of waiting, lots of required patience and slow discussions. The most difficult is the language barrier, especially with people who speak n0 English, and I speak n0ne of their language. Spanish only comes in handy here once in a long while, mostly for Cuban clients. French and Arabic would be a lot more helpful to me right now. I feel like I'm losing my ability to speak and understand Spanish as it is, so I was a little disappointed to find that I wouldn't have many opportunities to practice with clients.
My third day I sat in on a case management meeting concerning employment for clients. I sat quietly, because I am not qualified to say anything, and also because I didn't understand a lot of the acronyms that were being thrown around. Social Work has a lot of acronyms. I need a spreadsheet of codes to learn. The meeting was extremely productive and even funny at times to hear how some clients participate in their employment. Cultural differences can be funny sometimes. I'm sure we have a wide variety of personalities that can be found in our cliental. If I could just sit in on case management meetings all day I would be happy.
The IRC office is moving from Grand Central Station to near Times Square, so I guess that means I will be seeing Time Square a lot more often now since that's where my metro stop is. It's kind of exciting. I feel like seeing Time Square on an almost regular basis is like a confirmation that I officially live in New York City. Having a job here is cool, even if it is an internship that my school hooked me up with. Not lame at all.
I'm sure I will write more in the future, but probably not very frequently. Keep reading!
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