My Experience As A Refuge

3. I have been very lucky to be able to volunteer as a mentor for refugee girls for the last three years at International House Fort Wayne. Over that time I have built relationships that are based off of a mutual love and respect for different life experiences. Working with my girls every week, I have come to see that there are gaps in the services that are being provided to our children and families and the knowledge of the staff. In the last year in particular, I have jumped into a volunteer social worker role and have been starting the process of bridging the gaps in our services and the needs of our families. More than anything, this role has taught me of the things I lack knowledge in. I have had to find out various laws and policies that work for the benefit of refugees; as …show more content…
From working with the leaders in my community I have come to the conclusion that many communities can benefit from the knowledge that a trained licensed social worker can offer them. From this need of my own community came the desire to further my education to offer back to them someone who is qualified and educated in more specialized fields.
I have been able to have three internships and an international field placement while in my undergraduate career for social work outside of what I will be doing next semester at Charis House, a residential facility for women in crisis for my senior practicum. My first internship was with Heartland Hospice Service. I worked with two clients directly meeting with them for an hour each week and doing process notes for the social worker who came bi-weekly. I did twenty hours of work with this internship and it was a combination of working with individuals and families. My job was to spend time with the individuals each week, talking to them and hearing any concerns they had. I was able