Susie - Friends of Refugees - Blog 1

None of us really knew what to expect going in. We had all talked to each other, trying to make sure none of us had too high of expectations regarding the volunteer work we would be doing. We knew that we would only be there a week and thus were just temporary volunteers, which generally means that organizations have to find a way to keep us preoccupied for a week. I figured we would end up doing a lot of indirect service work—cleaning, landscaping, or computer work. This wasn't us being pessimistic about the volunteer work, but simply realistic. We arrived at Friends of Refugees, which is located in Clarkston, Georgia, and were given an orientation while the office was still essentially deserted. We learned that Clarkston had been chosen years ago by the federal government as an ideal place to relocate refugees coming to the United States, which is why there were so many refugees located in the town. They also explained that the government provided some funding and services to refugees for up to six months after arriving, but after that they were on their own. The role of Friends of Refugees was to pick up when the relocation organizations stopped providing assistance. One of the programs they had then is called Mommy and Me (although they plan to change the name soon), which provides English classes to mothers and daycare services to their children so that the mothers can attend and also get some adult time away from their children. When we walked back out into the hallway, sure enough the place was crowded with mothers and their young children.  This first day I decided to work with toddlers. After all the toddlers had come there were eighteen of them and five or six volunteers in the room.  While this seems like a pretty high ratio, it is not when half of the children are screaming for their mothers and need constant attention. A lot of the children were being separated from their mothers for the first time ever which was understandably stressful to them. I was surprised though when an hour later how much quieter the room had become. The toddlers were all incredibly adorable and fun to play with once they had calmed down. After the classes were over, we went to help out in another program—Cafe Clarkston—that helps refugees and immigrants create resumes and locate jobs in the area. I worked with an Ethiopian man with limited English for an hour or two, which really made me aware of how hard job searches are when you have limited skills. I also realized how little I actually knew about employment searches, which made me feel rather under-qualified to help others in this area.