Daily Archives: July 11, 2019

D.C. is More than Just Politics by Maddie Morehead

D.C. is lively and thriving. D.C. is friendly and beautiful. D.C. is jazzy and historic. D.C. is full of excitement and people from every walk of life with a different story or perspective worth sharing.

Being in a new city is a great excuse for friends to visit, and having a friend visit is a great excuse to explore the depths of said new city. A couple weeks ago, a friend that I met through my fall semester study abroad experience came to DC to visit me, and as any good friend would, I became a tourist with her.

We took a tour of “Black Broadway”, near Howard University, where tribute is payed to African American artists like Marvin Gaye, Chuck Brown, Sister Rosetta Tharpe , and Aretha Franklin. We learned about the fight it took to keep Go-Go alive – a genre that originated from The District, and joined our fellow tourists for lunch at Ben’s Chili Bowl, a Black owned restaurant originating in 1958 known for keeping the community together and for the famous D.C. half smoke. It was over chili dogs that we shared conversation and heard the beautiful love story between the couple that joined us on the tour.

Mural from Black Broadway tour on U Street

 

We also took a food tour through Georgetown, an extremely gentrified area of The District, attracting foodies from all over. However, this gentrification was met with philanthropy through a bakery called Dog Tag Inc., dedicated to providing education through Georgetown University and employment for service-disabled veterans and their families. Not to mention that their cookies were absolutely delicious too.

Food tour in Georgetown

Not only are tours a great way to meet the people traveling through the streets of Washington, but Lyft and Uber rides also proved to be a great way to meet fellow visitors and locals of the DMV (District, Maryland, and Virginia).

I’ve met people from all over the U.S. and even the world, just by sitting in the back seat of their car. One man who came to the U.S. “looking for a gold coin on the sidewalk”, told my friend and I that our friendship was beautiful after telling him that we met while studying abroad. He proceeded to tell us to cherish it forever because people just don’t make meaningful relationships as easily when they get older. Another driver, a woman, gave me life advice on my way to the International Airport to welcome IREX Fellows from all over Africa to the U.S. She graduated high school at 16 years old and was very accomplished in her professional life. She told me that instead of trying to live around working, one should learn how to work around living. Advice that I will never forget.

Another man I met who was willing to share a new perspective with me was a security guard at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. He was generous enough to share his point of view of the art that he observes on a daily basis for hours on end. He gave me my own personal tour saying, “This artist is very particular about everything she does, even the lighting”. Without him, I never would have noticed how the shadows on the wall are really the center of the art and not the sculpture, or how the way you tilt your head could reveal a completely new piece. And now I’m going back to see him when the new exhibit comes out at the end of this month.

Artwork from National Museum of Women in the Arts by Ursula Von Ridingsvard

It’s through these experiences that I have been able to learn about and experience the real D.C. The lively, and thriving, and friendly D.C. These experiences bring joy to my little heart, which thrives off of meeting new people; hearing their stories; and learning things that are not taught in schools, whether it be life lessons or history. Everyone here has a story, and I will take every chance I can get to listen and learn.

Faces of Hope by Hilary Van Oss

You can learn a lot about a person by looking at their face. The face is a portal to one’s soul; it shows what they are feeling and thinking. These past few weeks I have looked into the faces of many individuals who have just made a huge, courageous leap of faith by moving to and settling into the United States as a refugee. Working at Heartland Alliance’s Refugee and Immigrant Community Services (RICS) office, I have had the privilege to look into many faces of hope.

RICS is a refugee resettlement agency that works with refugees from airport pick-up when they arrive in Chicago to navigating public transportation to English class to assisting with public benefits and government services to searching for employment and the list goes on. I am specifically a Case Management intern which means that I am helping our participants extensively within the first 90 days of arrival by helping to make sure basic needs are met and after the 90 days helping to guide the participants to self-sufficiency. For me every day is different as I could be doing a combination of a variety of tasks. Everything from accompanying participants to the Department of Family Services office to receive public benefits, to the Secretary of State’s office to acquire a State ID, to conducting home visits to ensure our participants have everything they need, to helping a new family learn how to use the CTA to get from their home to the office, to assisting with the mounds of paperwork that is required for grant-funded and federal funded nonprofits, and the list goes on. At RICS they say that no two days are the same and that is 100% true.

Throughout these last few weeks, I have had the privilege of seeing faces of bravery, strength, courage, determination, fear, anxiety, but most of all hope. Hope is something that is so powerful. It has the ability to encourage someone to take a leap of faith in order for the possibility of something better on the other side. It has the powers of motivation and calming sense of reassurance that you are doing the right thing. It provides comfort when times are difficult while also inspiring someone to do something big. Hope is a funny little four letter word, but one that encompasses all these emotions and more.

The participants at RICS have faces that are filled with hope. It is that hope that accompanies single mothers with their children, families where some family members do not make the move, those who leave their entire support network and come alone, and those fighting for a better chance. Although other emotions such as fear, anxiety, and stress flash across faces, there is always a glimmer of hope that can be seen.

It is that glimmer of hope and the flash of a smile that bridges cultures and communities together. It brings people from the Eritrea, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Syria, Burma, and the United States together. It exceeds language barriers and allows one another to be linked; linked together through shared or similar experiences. It is a face of hope that encourages me to do what I do and it is a face of hope that shines bright on the participants face as they understand and settle into what their life here in the United States will be.

Following are portraits of RICS participants by Pam Ingalls. They were shown in a show entitled “Facing the New US” at Heartland Alliance in honor of World Refugee Day. The artist’s website is pamingalls.com.

Three Places. One Week. Too Many Questions. by Alyssa Brewer

In one week, I went from studying abroad in Namibia to spending time with my family in Arkansas to now living in Indianapolis. Throughout this week, so many emotions bubbled up inside me. It was a cycle of confusion, anger, sadness, and exhaustion. Culture shock overwhelmed me at times. I questioned the habits of the nation in which I grew up. Why are there so many aisle of cereal? Why are there so many ads on the radio? Why is there too much water over here and not enough over there? But then new questions arose when I traveled to Indy from Arkansas. Why are there so many one-ways? Why are there no grocery stores nearby? Why am I here? That last one has become the theme of this summer. Technically, I am an intern at Kheprw Institute in Indianapolis- however, I am still discovering what that means. 

Kheprw Institute is a Non-for-Profit organization that focuses on empowering marginalised communities to become self-sustainable. Throughout my experience interning here, I have developed even more questions than answers. The leaders host discussions each morning about critical themes- social capital, empowerment, entrepreneurship, climate, race, education- just to name a few. No other organization that I have worked at does this. 

In a way, this style reminds me of my time studying in Southern Africa. I find comfort in the fact that despite every other aspect of my life changing, at least here there is some similarity. I am not stuck in some 65 degree office wearing button-downs and fulfilling menial tasks. Instead, I am sitting on a front porch openly discussing economics with my supervisor. The culture here at Kheprw is as non-traditional as it is real. 

While I have encountered some bumps in the road- arriving later due to study abroad schedule, tearing a ligament in my foot, and navigating the city with a boot on- I have not let them hold me back. Even though this experience has been both mentally and physically challenging so far, I have learned to be patient with life, be patient with others, and most importantly be patient with myself. So now the only question on my mind is what’s next?