I studied abroad once and I took pictures and I told tales and I felt like a world traveler for some time. It’s funny how once you visit a place, you feel like you carry part of its culture as your own afterwards. Traveling seems so glorious, so surreal. And it is. It’s a beautiful way to step outside of your comfort zone and learn about things you can’t quite grasp behind a computer screen or even between the covers of the most marvelous novels. But the traveling I did in Europe was nothing compared to the traveling I do within the walls of a small office in Indianapolis.
I am going on my sixth week as an intern at Exodus Refugee Immigration through Valpo’s amazing CAPS Fellows Program. Exodus is a refugee resettlement non-profit that has been in operation since 1981. They began by resettling Cuban refugees, and have since helped refugees from all over the world. This past year alone they assisted nearly 900 individuals. My official department is in development and communications, which coincides rather well with my pursuit in international business. I’ve done a little event planning, social media posting, emailing, donation requesting, and so on. But outside of these normal communication roles, I have been introduced to a whole new side of the city I thought I had known my whole life.
My first day at Exodus I was able to help with an apartment set-up. We met at an apartment near my childhood home and walked into a space that would soon be home to a family of 8 just arriving from overseas. We set up a bed for the parents and then 6 more beds for the children. It was overwhelming imagining this family getting off their flight and walking into a completely foreign land, and then hopping in a car to head towards their new weird home in the part of the world that had always been the most normal to me. Since then I have been able to help teach English, smile and laugh with the most resilient and beautiful people I have ever met, and am even able to help mentor a new family one-on-one.
A lot of the work Exodus does is just kind of mind-blowing to me. It’s this small office space with almost 40 employees and a lot of interns, and everyone is always speeding off to their next location, doing whatever it is they are tasked with that day. It’s so beautiful there. I’ve found I work alongside a lot of everyday superheroes. These people do everything from teaching english, finding jobs for people, raising money, moving furniture, setting up appointments, and so much more. I always just say, “It’s a full-service kinda place.” You can walk into one room and there’s an official suit and tie meeting going on, and walk into the next and find kids playing with toys and coloring pictures of flowers and baby bears. It’s this kind of diversity that makes Exodus so special.
I feel lucky to be able to work with and for Exodus. It might be a small office that has no windows and a leaky ceiling, but it creates a home for people who really need one. In an interview with a local Indy paper one client stated, “When we came here, we had no friends and no family. We only knew Exodus.”
They always say an internship is where you do the real learning. I can’t wait to keep learning this summer.
