This week marks my second week working with Heartland Alliance’s Refugee and Immigrant Community Services Program! As I’ve been reflecting on the start to my internship with Heartland, it seems like every day has brought new learning, new challenges, and in particular, new excitement. At the beginning, all I could think about was how nervous I was as I tried to navigate a different environment. The first challenge that I faced was driving through Chicago alone – which, up until last week, I had promised myself that I would never do. I remember setting my alarm super early on that first day, to plan in advance for the fact that I would probably miss at least 2 exits on the expressway. But even with the extra-early start, I quickly realized that Chicago traffic is way more unpredictable than I had planned for. I swear I could hear the traffic’s evil laugh as I rounded a bend in the highway and beheld an endless line of brakelights swarming the W. Lawrence Avenue exit ramp. After arriving at the office, I parked, walked across the street, and rang the doorbell to be let in. Inside the lobby, there were comfortable couches and a reception desk, where my supervisor met me before taking me on a tour of the office. As we walked through the various hallways and passed by the conference rooms and common areas, my supervisor smiled and told me, “Don’t worry if you don’t remember everything I’m going to tell you on this tour, because I know it’s a lot”. I know this statement sounds insignificant, but it helped put my mind at ease, and reminded me that it’s okay to not know how everything works right away.

After that first day, I spent the rest of the week learning more and more about the incredible work that Heartland does across the city of Chicago. As I’ve started to understand what the Refugee and Immigrant Community Services team does each week and the processes that the team goes through to take in new participants and place them into jobs, I’ve found myself becoming increasingly excited for what the rest of my internship will hold. I’ve also been really enjoying learning about refugee policies and the rights that refugees and asylees have when they come to the US. Prior to this internship, I had never done research on or looked into refugee rights before, and I’ve found it to be really interesting – especially in the present-day, with many of these topics taking center stage with the current political climate. While thinking about my calling and purpose throughout the CAPS program so far, I’ve been considering how these subjects of interest might play a role in my vocation in the future. Since starting college, my attention has consistently been drawn to refugee/immigration issues and policies – so with this internship focusing on those things in a non-profit setting, I’m curious to see where that might lead me in my search for calling and purpose.

Nora Fisher, Heartland Alliance