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.
