This Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent (at least that is what I understood, feel free to scathingly correct me if I am wrong). I have been attending the Lutheran Church near my house and this week I watched them light the first candle. Actually, that is a lie, I came in late and the candle was already lit--but I did hear the sermon about the four values/ideals of advent--Peace, Love, Hope and Joy. After the service I asked the pastor what order those values went in, or which candle was lit that first day because I had some idea of doing an advent ceremony with my community. The pastor told me that there were so many explanations for which candle meant what and what order they should be lit in that the church didn't even try to assign a value to a candle--he encouraged me to just pick an order that made sense to me.
I gave it some thought while I made a traditional advent wreath (that is, made from styrofoam with branches I scrounged from our bushes and some candles from the discount rack at Craft Warehouse). As soon as I finished the wreath I felt particularly inspired to share my thoughts with my community. I wrote a short reflection and read it before lighting the first candle. Here is what I wrote:
"After the pastor today advised me to choose my own order for the four values of advent--Peace, Love, Joy and Hope--I meditated for a while on what should come first. Hope jumped out at me as the place to start. I think that hope is one of the most critical, if not the most critical idea for us to embrace in our line of work. It is really easy for us to be consumed by despair in the social services. I now that every one of us sees evidence day in and day out that things are really messed up, that people are hurting, that things could easily get worse and that they often do, that there isn't always a place to turn and it is not magically going to get better. I feel this despair weighing down my steps and it makes every interaction harder and makes my work feel pointless. I think that everyone feels this way. The only answer to this despair is hope. Hope is a fundamentally revolutionary act. It is a way to defy the world's seemingly constant oppression and say, "no, you are wrong, things can and will get better." Hope doesn't require that we see the way, just that we believe there is a way. It is not something that comes easy, it isn't logical, it isn't even very comforting at first--it is, rather, a deliberate choice or practice that is developed in time. You have to choose hope--to choose to really, deeply believe that despite all the evidence to the contrary, things will improve for these people we are serving. With that said, I think that hope has to come first in the advent season. Because in order to change the world, as Christ set out to do, we first have to conquer despair. And so we turn to hope--Hope for Christ in the advent season and for all that he represents: peace, love, and joy. These values represent a revolutionary change that will transform the world we work in--this despair and pain will be swept away and replaced with joy and peace. The first step is hope--truly believing that it will happen. I want to offer this prayer for everyone, 'God, give us hope; teach us how to hope. Help everyone of us to overcome the powerful despair that dogs our steps and instead help us to embrace a revolutionary hope that this world is going to change. Amen.' And so, I light this candle for hope."
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
A "great story"
(I am literally going to submit this to AmeriCorps as one of my two mandatory "great stories" from service this year)
The other day I was asked to take a Nepali couple for their initial medical screening. Though I had to get out of bed at an ungodly hour to drive all the way across town during a foggy rush hour, I was happy to do it. When I returned to pick the couple up after their appointment, they were waiting to hear from the nurse about something. It took me a while to figure out what they were waiting for but I eventually heard "pregnancy appointment" (by which I assumed they meant pre-natal care--not arranging for one). I turned to the wife to congratulate her and asked her how far along she was, to which the husband replied "8 months." I did a serious double-take and realized that yes, this woman was in fact very pregnant and I had not noticed (in my defense, she was covering it up with a large scarf--I think it is a modesty thing). Eventually the nurse came out and explained to me that I needed to somehow schedule this woman for some prenatal care at clinic that would take medicaid since she was 8 months along and had not yet seen a doctor. I happily agreed with no clue as to how difficult that would be. It turns out that no ob-gyn clinic in Portland will see a woman for the first time during her 8th month of pregnancy unless she has well-documented prenatal care because they don't want to be liable for something going wrong. I called clinic after clinic, incredulously, and listened to them explain that yes, though this woman did need to see a doctor right away they did not want to be the ones to do it. I was actually told that her only option was to go to the emergency room! They wanted a medicaid patient to go to the ER for routine prenatal care! I was outraged/appalled/any other furious emotion that would capture the essence of all that is wrong with our medical system. By my 7th or 8th phone call I started to lose my cool--I hadn't eaten in hours and was running on little sleep. I am embarrassed to say that I got quite snippy with a receptionist at a clinic and hung up on her after she used the words "not my problem."
In the end I did get her an appointment. I asked another Catholic Charities agency (Pregnancy & Adoption Support) for help and they gave me the number of a social worker at a Midwife clinic who was able to hook me up with some basic care and a nepali interpreter. (woot!) I took the couple to an ultrasound appointment yesterday--during which the husband was grinning nonstop--and the couple told me that they were having a baby girl around the first of January. The husband also told me, however, that he was not surprised by the news because "a woman in Nepal with magical powers told me it would be a girl." Well, clearly she was right. Let's hope that it is a healthy girl too. Pregnancy support is also hooking up the family with a new baby welcome kit (bottles, clothes, diapers and blankets) so the first member of this family to be born in their new country will arrive in style.
The other day I was asked to take a Nepali couple for their initial medical screening. Though I had to get out of bed at an ungodly hour to drive all the way across town during a foggy rush hour, I was happy to do it. When I returned to pick the couple up after their appointment, they were waiting to hear from the nurse about something. It took me a while to figure out what they were waiting for but I eventually heard "pregnancy appointment" (by which I assumed they meant pre-natal care--not arranging for one). I turned to the wife to congratulate her and asked her how far along she was, to which the husband replied "8 months." I did a serious double-take and realized that yes, this woman was in fact very pregnant and I had not noticed (in my defense, she was covering it up with a large scarf--I think it is a modesty thing). Eventually the nurse came out and explained to me that I needed to somehow schedule this woman for some prenatal care at clinic that would take medicaid since she was 8 months along and had not yet seen a doctor. I happily agreed with no clue as to how difficult that would be. It turns out that no ob-gyn clinic in Portland will see a woman for the first time during her 8th month of pregnancy unless she has well-documented prenatal care because they don't want to be liable for something going wrong. I called clinic after clinic, incredulously, and listened to them explain that yes, though this woman did need to see a doctor right away they did not want to be the ones to do it. I was actually told that her only option was to go to the emergency room! They wanted a medicaid patient to go to the ER for routine prenatal care! I was outraged/appalled/any other furious emotion that would capture the essence of all that is wrong with our medical system. By my 7th or 8th phone call I started to lose my cool--I hadn't eaten in hours and was running on little sleep. I am embarrassed to say that I got quite snippy with a receptionist at a clinic and hung up on her after she used the words "not my problem."
In the end I did get her an appointment. I asked another Catholic Charities agency (Pregnancy & Adoption Support) for help and they gave me the number of a social worker at a Midwife clinic who was able to hook me up with some basic care and a nepali interpreter. (woot!) I took the couple to an ultrasound appointment yesterday--during which the husband was grinning nonstop--and the couple told me that they were having a baby girl around the first of January. The husband also told me, however, that he was not surprised by the news because "a woman in Nepal with magical powers told me it would be a girl." Well, clearly she was right. Let's hope that it is a healthy girl too. Pregnancy support is also hooking up the family with a new baby welcome kit (bottles, clothes, diapers and blankets) so the first member of this family to be born in their new country will arrive in style.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Photo Update
I have been remiss in my visual updates. Here are a few pictures of what we did during the weekends:
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| Almost the whole house at the Gum wall (near Pike place market in Seattle) |
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| The Rose Test Garden in NW Portland (Late August) with some of the gals from my house. |
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| Prepping our Halloween Costumes |
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| Our official Halloween costumes--Space Jam (these are our "planet faces." If you cannot tell, I am earth) |
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| Joe and I found a book called "Balancing sport and acrobatics" on the giveaway shelf at the library. We decided to learn some of the moves--this is our best one so far (And I DID NOT fall! We can hold that pose for ~15 seconds! And I can flip out of it) |
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
A quick catch-up on the last few weeks
Hey y'all, I apologize for my uncharacteristic silence. Things have been busy in the refugee world (and in the medical school application world). Allow me to give you a shortened list of highlights (I don't have time for the long one since I must catch a bus)
I was accepted to Emory!!! I don't know if that is where I will end up going but it is nice to know that someone will take me. By this time next year I will be in medical school (probably drowning my sorrows at a dive bar after a horrendous anatomy exam). I was also invited to interview at a few more schools (Tulane, Duke and the U of U). I will keep you all posted as the decision-making progresses
I was able to compile a good list of the shocking, the predictable, and the shockingly predictable:
The predictable: One of the somali guys has decided that he wants an American girlfriend. As I am the only girl he has met in the United States he decided to ask me. (His english isn't very good so I just pretended that I didn't understand and started pointing out bus routes on the way back from the clinic). When I dropped him off at his apartment he thanked me by kissing my arm (I think he was aiming for my hand but I was surprised and moved--plus he was nervous). His english is not good enough for me to explain the concept of boundaries to him (though if he gets too forward I suppose a slap is a pretty international signal). So I have mostly been avoiding the problem by avoiding him. It has mostly worked. Although the other day I was supposed to pick up this guy and his three roommates. When I arrived the three roommates were gone and he invited me to wait with him until they returned.....I declined and instead went to the library to kill time.
The shocking: We received a huge clothing donation from a children's clothing store that went out of business. We don't have anywhere to store clothing so I took the 16 trash bags of clothes to another charity. Unfortunately, one of the other caseworkers found out the next day and was extremely upset because she needed clothes for one of her client's kids. So, I had to go back to the charity and take advantage of a new volunteer who was naive enough to leave me and another intern in the storage room to "pick out a few outfits." We frantically started stuffing clothes into trash bags and managed to bring back two bags of kids' clothing with no one the wiser. (what did you do today sarah? 'oh, nothing, just stole back my donations from a charity').
The shockingly predictable: The US refugee resettlement program is really messed up. It is almost perfectly designed to fail. Also, since it is under the umbrella of TANF (temporary assistance to needy families) it is a part of the welfare block of "discretionary spending" that congress is talking about slashing. The benefits that families get only last for 8 months---in 8 months a refugee family is supposed to be economically independent (with a full-time job in this economy), speaking english, and adjusted to life in the US! It used to be 3 years of support but "budgetary concerns" during the early 2000s cut it down to less than a year. So yeah, that sucks.
On a lighter note, I just came back from the social security office where I took an adorable Burmese couple. I was speaking to the husband (who knows english) and asked him what he wanted to do in the US. He replied that he wanted to get a job where he could learn how to make coffee drinks--particularly how to make cool pictures in cappuccino foam. He fled his village in Myanmar and survived three years in a refugee camp in malaysia and now he has come to the United States and wants to be a barrista--if that isn't the american dream then I don't know what is!
I was accepted to Emory!!! I don't know if that is where I will end up going but it is nice to know that someone will take me. By this time next year I will be in medical school (probably drowning my sorrows at a dive bar after a horrendous anatomy exam). I was also invited to interview at a few more schools (Tulane, Duke and the U of U). I will keep you all posted as the decision-making progresses
I was able to compile a good list of the shocking, the predictable, and the shockingly predictable:
The predictable: One of the somali guys has decided that he wants an American girlfriend. As I am the only girl he has met in the United States he decided to ask me. (His english isn't very good so I just pretended that I didn't understand and started pointing out bus routes on the way back from the clinic). When I dropped him off at his apartment he thanked me by kissing my arm (I think he was aiming for my hand but I was surprised and moved--plus he was nervous). His english is not good enough for me to explain the concept of boundaries to him (though if he gets too forward I suppose a slap is a pretty international signal). So I have mostly been avoiding the problem by avoiding him. It has mostly worked. Although the other day I was supposed to pick up this guy and his three roommates. When I arrived the three roommates were gone and he invited me to wait with him until they returned.....I declined and instead went to the library to kill time.
The shocking: We received a huge clothing donation from a children's clothing store that went out of business. We don't have anywhere to store clothing so I took the 16 trash bags of clothes to another charity. Unfortunately, one of the other caseworkers found out the next day and was extremely upset because she needed clothes for one of her client's kids. So, I had to go back to the charity and take advantage of a new volunteer who was naive enough to leave me and another intern in the storage room to "pick out a few outfits." We frantically started stuffing clothes into trash bags and managed to bring back two bags of kids' clothing with no one the wiser. (what did you do today sarah? 'oh, nothing, just stole back my donations from a charity').
The shockingly predictable: The US refugee resettlement program is really messed up. It is almost perfectly designed to fail. Also, since it is under the umbrella of TANF (temporary assistance to needy families) it is a part of the welfare block of "discretionary spending" that congress is talking about slashing. The benefits that families get only last for 8 months---in 8 months a refugee family is supposed to be economically independent (with a full-time job in this economy), speaking english, and adjusted to life in the US! It used to be 3 years of support but "budgetary concerns" during the early 2000s cut it down to less than a year. So yeah, that sucks.
On a lighter note, I just came back from the social security office where I took an adorable Burmese couple. I was speaking to the husband (who knows english) and asked him what he wanted to do in the US. He replied that he wanted to get a job where he could learn how to make coffee drinks--particularly how to make cool pictures in cappuccino foam. He fled his village in Myanmar and survived three years in a refugee camp in malaysia and now he has come to the United States and wants to be a barrista--if that isn't the american dream then I don't know what is!
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