hu
hu hu
guys,
This
morning, I went to do volunteer for refugees. The volunteer is actually
arranged byWelcome to America Project. It is a non-profit organization to help
refugees to settle in their new home, in the US. here is the story how the WTAP organization started.
The
first time I heard this organization was from my project coordinator, Allison,
she talked about it and she invited our group to go for the presentation of
WTAP 2 months ago. First time I attended the presentation of WTAP, I cried like
a baby to see the refugees who had been abandoned by their government because
of the conflict in their countries. As far as I know, there are few countries
that have been helped by the WTAP since 2001, such as Somalia, Iraq, Africa and
some other countries. The WTAP helps the refugees to be settled in their new
home. The WTAP gives them house supplies which have been donated by the
Americans. After the WTAP gets the supplies, they deliver the supplies to
the refugees' new home which has been provided by the US government before they
come to the United States. I really was surprised and amazed to know how the
Americans, WTAP and the government of US work together to help the
refugees and because of that, I went to do volunteer today from 6.30 AM til 12
PM.
So
today, Juan and I were picked up by Megan, the Executive Director of WTAP. She picked us
around 6.30 and we went to the storage unit where they keep all the donations
from people who want to donate something for the refugees. Guess what did we
see in the storage unit? They have a lot of home supplies such as plates,
glass, pans, and everything, including BIKE!!! haha I wrote it in capital
letter because I am waiting for my bike (Allison will give us in a few weeks,
fingers crossed LOL). Juan and I met a lot of American families at the storage
unit, I think it was around 21 Americans. Doncha think it was a lot of
Americans? They were so friendly and at that time, I wished Indonesians would
do the same as what they do, volunteering and donating something for people who
need it/them. Anyway, we (All the 22 volunteers) picked all the supplies that
the refugees might need and we put it on the truck so we could deliver them
directly to the refugees's apartments.
We
(all volunteer) and Megan delivered the home supplies to 2 refugees. First one
was the Iraq family. They came from Iraq and after few years fighting with
their paperwork so they could come here, now finally they are in the
United States. They have been here for about 1 month. The member of family was
Alli, his wife and his mother. Sadly their father died while they were fighting
to get their paperwork in Egypt. We spent about 1 and half hour in their home.
We cleaned their apartment and put some of the supplies that we brought. Well
Juan and I washed the dishes that we brought from the storage unit (haha we
both love washing dishes, we are good partner in washing dishes ROFL). When
everything was done, we sat together and heard the story of the family. The
mother (I cannot believe I forgot to ask her name :( ) was really happy to see
us in their apartment, she could not stop saying thank you to us. Anyway, in
the family, Alli was the only one who could speak English and he spoke really
good English. They were a really nice family. I was happy to see their
smiles.
 |
| Alli and his family talk about their experience to be refugees. |
 |
| American volunteers |
 |
| taking picture before saying good-bye |
 |
| Bye Bye . . .
The
second family was from Somalia. There were a mother and 5 kids. We did the same
as we did in Alli's house. We visited them with the supplies and clean their
new home for them. We spent about 2 hours there. The sad thing about the family
was, they could not speak English at all, so Megan had to call
their interpreter to translate everything. The kids were really young, the
oldest one was 13 years old. They go to the school in here but they have their
own class because they cannot speak English at all. That time I really wish I
had a car so I could come sometime when I have free time to teach basic English
for them (although my English is really terrible ROFL).
When
everything was done at the second house, we (all the volunteers) made a circle
to talk and discuss what we had done and what had inspired us. The WTAP
organization sometimes get some good suggestion from the volunteer so it will
make the organization projects to be better. Everybody was really satisfied to
do a great job today including me and Juan.
 Juan is always a good listener, he was concentrating to hear the story of Mohammed's mother 
the interpreter that help us to translate
when we were in a circle, a kid
came to our circle with a name tag one of the volunteers, Willy on her
forehead. We all laughed to see the kid. I felt like I miss my nephew, Gifari.
The kid's name was Harry. He was really cute. I loved him. His English was
perfect than mine haha. I played with him like 20 mins before we left. He said
that he would buy me a car (can you believe that?? a 5 years old kid promised
to buy a car for me haha). When we left, He cried because he wanted to be on
the truck with us. I know that someday, I will visit Harry because he is so
cute and lovely, may be I will invite him to come to my apartment and spend
time here with me. I am glad that I asked his address to his mother. I will see
him may be next 2 weeks, but before going there, I should find out the bus
route first so I will not get lost ROFL.
Harry
I love you Harry!! I hope I will meet you sooner :)
Anyway, That's all the story of
volunteer today. I really had fun there and learnt that the US government has
never ever differentiate the religion of refugees. Most of people, especially
in Asia believe that US government do not like Muslims, in fact all the
refugees that come to this country mostly are Muslims. Alli's family and the
Somalian's family are two of the Muslim refugees who came here by the help of
the Americans, the Welcome to America Project and also the government. So, never judge anything before you see and experience it.
Love, Nur |
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