“Despacito! Play Despacito!” Repeats from around the 15-passenger van as ten 8-14 year old refugee youth call out for my fellow intern Wendy and I to play the smash hit from Louis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee, and Justin Bieber. “It’s the radio” we say with a laugh, “we can’t control what comes on, but if you wait long enough it will probably come back on again”. And thus begins, and usually ends, the day at Heartland Alliance’s Youth and Family Service’s Summer Program.

Being an intern in Summer Program has provided me with a great experience to work with some incredible young people, and has been a thoroughly rewarding experience. First, a little about what Summer Program exactly is. Every day of the week in Summer Program takes us to a different location and provides a unique experience, all of which generally center around our program theme of “Good Neighbor”. Mondays, we meet at a local church where youth participants play games, make crafts and learn a little about the general theme of the week, topics such as conservation, creativity, etc. Tuesdays, our program takes youth around the city on different field trips designed to show our participants, all first year refugee youths, different places in Chicago and provide them with unique learning experiences; places such as the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Heartland Alliances Urban Farm or the Evanston Art Center. Wednesdays and Thursdays take on a little bit more of a fun, laid back approach; Wednesdays consist of playing soccer with other refugee organizations. While Thursdays are visits to the beach, where in addition to swimming and playing in the sand our program engages in a bit of a beach garbage clean up, thus encouraging our theme of “Good Neighbor”. As is evident, each day is unique and a whole lot of fun, however it provides so much more for both participants and staff.

For our participants, these activities provide the chance to get out and explore their very new city, and see some of what Chicago has to offer. It also gives them the opportunity to consistently practice English and meet new kids from different cultures and parts of the world. One of the coolest parts of this experience is that on a daily basis one can watch kids who speak different languages become friends and hang out, despite the lack of a common language. Observing and being a part of this serves as a daily reminder that at the end of the day all of us are more alike than we are different. While that may sound cliché it really is powerful and rewarding to be a part of a program that brings people together and shows recently arrived refugee children what America is really about; a place where all are welcome, and a place that values diversity and inclusion.

Being a part of Summer Program has provided me a lot, including a never-ending loop of Despacito playing in my head. Through this ongoing experience in Summer Program I’ve also come to truly appreciate the value of non-verbal communication and learn the power that a positive disposition and a smiling face can have, especially when the populations you are working with might not understand what you are saying. Additionally, every day provides a host of new learning experiences: including learning simply phrases in Arabic and Kurdish, learning about the foods and cultural norms of other cultures, and just coming to appreciate the unique and wonderful nature of all people. Every day is an opportunity to improve the lives of the youths we work with, and every day is a chance to improve the world just a little bit, and I consider myself extremely blessed to have had this opportunity this summer.

Wooh, let me breath out and relax for a second; it’s been almost 2 weeks since I began my CAPS fellowship with Heartland Alliance’s Youth and Family Services (YFS) and each day has been a new, challenging, but most importantly exciting adventure. Let me retrace a few of steps to the beginning and get a running start (get ready for some running metaphors!) into some of the experience and takeaways that I’ve already experienced in my first two weeks as a CAPS Fellow.
 
 
First and foremost, what exactly have I been doing? Since you’ve taken the time to read this blog I feel you’re entitled to know what I’ve been up to, so let me explain. My primary role as an intern in the YFS division of Heartland Alliance is to work with other interns and staff to plan, coordinate and finally carry out “Summer Program”; a 6 week long day camp for newly settled refugee children ages 8-14 that runs from the beginning of July through the middle of August. So then it would follow that the month of June is sort of like a warm-up for when the race actually begins at the beginning of July. However, this warm-up is more like one of those warm-ups where you’ve decided to try something new every step of the way, and at first it seems like, “woah this is really scary!” and you don’t know what to do, but then you look around and realize that everyone around you is super awesome and passionate, loves the work that they’re doing, and genuinely wants to make the world a better place. Pretty much right away you settle in and think “man this is going to be a great run” and you start to feel comfortable excited in a really great new environment. That’s what working in YFS is like.
 
 
Currently YFS has a set of tasks we need to complete before Summer Program begins that range from organizing our supplies, creating binders for each of the locations where we pick up students, reaching out to families about participating, and everywhere in between. One of the big things I’ve taken out of this experience already is that in order to plan such a major event, like our summer program, is that there’s a whole lot of behind the scenes work that nobody realizes is absolutely vital for having a successful program. For example, as I’m writing this I’ve just finished a day where I spent a great deal of time reaching out to local restaurants and grocery stores for summer program snack donations (absolutely crucial to keep costs down as a non-profit) and talking with bus companies about transportation for one of our field trips during the program. What I’ve come to take away from all of this is that in order create something truly great, like our Summer Program will undoubtedly be, you’ve got to put the time in during training to have a winning product.
 
 

Running metaphors and pseudo-sports reference aside, there are a few things that have really struck me about this sort of really purposeful work that I’ve entered into. One, at the end of the day, when 5:00 rolls around, and the work day ends, it’s not at all the end of the day for the families coming through our office. While I get to go home at the end of the day to hangout and watch Netflix, the families who we work with don’t get to just check out from what happened during the day, because while this might just our work, it’s their whole lives. That’s the kind of thought that when it hits you makes you start to appreciate the incredible importance and purpose of this sort of work. Second, the people who work at Heartland Alliance, and organizations like it, are truly amazing human beings. Being surrounded by people who everyday live out the values of leadership and service is inspiring and really drives you to work harder and do good things. Lastly, pre-school children are absolutely adorable. Okay, everyone know that, but still. After spending just a few hours in the preschool room a few days okay I’ve had kids running up to me at my desk, with the biggest smiles, yelling “teacher, teacher”, and I think you can get the picture, it’s a pretty great feeling.
 
 

I think that’s where I’ll leave it for this time. I am super excited to continue my summer with Heartland Alliance’s Youth and Family Services, and I look forward to checking back in once we’ve started the race that is Summer Program. (Of course I was going to leave you with one more running metaphor!)