A New Adventure
This week we start a news series of posts from guest bloggers who are new volunteers and interns at the International Institute. Over the summer you will be hearing about their adventures and reflections on their work with the immigrants and refugees of the IISTL. We hope you’ll stay tuned.
Today’s post comes to us from Ashley Mace, who is a rising Senior at Lafayette High School.
Making the journey from my humble middle-class abode to the International Institute not only serves as a time for me to listen to Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits but also as a journey into the most fascinating part of my week. It begins with a turn out of my subdivision filled with cookie-cutter houses, lawns of meticulously cut grass, and children playing with the latest and greatest of toys. I drive a bit further then enter onto the highway overflowing with expensive new cars passing each other, racing in agitation to get to work on time. Finally I see that glorious exit for Grand Blvd. and I turn down the volume on “Piano Man” just to take in the sights and the atmosphere. Although I’ve just eaten my breakfast for the day I can’t help but wish it was lunchtime as I drive past a few ethnic food markets and the Kabob restaurant I have been setting my sights on for a couple of weeks. And alas, here I am, at the intersection of all corners of the earth, entirely separate from our normal busy and materialistic culture, at the International Institute.
Coming from the suburbs, my idea of diversity unfortunately consisted of ordering takeout Chinese on a Friday night. Then I enter into this entirely new world where people of all nations, backgrounds and walks of life congregate in their native dress to take an English class or secure a loan on their new small business. It is the perfect blend of honoring heritage but looking forward to new life in this great country of opportunity. These people have experienced things my peers and I cannot even begin to imagine from war to starvation to poverty, usually in the refugee camp that kept them from an even harsher life. You can see the pain in some eyes but often behind that dim shadow lays a different thing, a much greater thing. Behind that shadow lays hope for the future and for a new life.
The phenomenal staff at the Institute has a heart that beats for these clients and for making their transition to life in America easier. Many of them come from similar backgrounds in countries of conflict and actually made use of the services they now offer. It’s no wonder they came back to work here; this center is a truly integral part of the