Can't Keep Up

As my refugee kiddos are spelling out on the tennis court, "Hi." I have found it hard to blog these days because between work and school, I think I might die. I love everything I am doing, and yet don't have enough time to do it all.

To all my friends that call me and I don't call you back, I apologize. When I see I have a voicemail, I seem to think that if I don't listen to it, I don't need to add "call so-and-so" to my long check list of things to do. How logical illogicalaties can be sometimes. See what skills grad school is giving me? I'm now making up words! No wait, I always did that, now they are just smarter made up words.

Refugee Household SetUp

I frequent our storage units often in order to "shop" through donations for an incoming refugee individual/family. Once I figure out what we have in storage, I give caseworkers a list of things we will need to purchase to fill in the holes. During the busy summer months, we have 3 storage units: one for household goods, one for beds, and one for tables and chairs. I have spent a lot of time at storage during this last year. Thanks to my awesome summer donation intern, it is actually looking pretty organized and great!






I inherited about 3 packages of these below. Adult diapers. I have no idea why someone donated them in the first place, or why my predecessor accepted them. I have given away a few, but we really don't receive too many elderly refugees who may very possibly need them. One time, I placed some in an apartment where an elderly person was going to live, but at the last minute the caseworkers switched things around and flipped apartments. An intern helped move some of the household goods between apartments, but confused the adult diapers for baby diapers and gave it to the other family who happened to have a baby. I can only imagine what they must have thought when they opened the 'diapers' only to discover they were big enough to wrap the baby in as if it were a blanket!



Saying early goodbyes to my frequently visited storage unit. I begin training the new me tomorrow.



After gathering all the goods, I then have to transport them to the apartment and set up the household before they arrive! For this apartment setup, I recruited the help of a bunch of single Burmese Chin guys who have arrived last week and live in the same complex. We have welcomed a lot of single Chin guys and they are so incredibly helpful!






Caseworkers then buy a meal for the family so they have food in the home when they arrive from the airport. And that, in a very small nutshell, is the process for setting up an apartment for a new arrival.

Burundian Weekend

I attended a Burundian wedding yesterday. Silly me. I thought I could attend an African wedding AND have time to attend a friend's goodbye BBQ. Not the case. I think everything took twice as long as 'normal.' People didn't mind waiting around forever for food (an average American would have been complaining about 15 minutes into the wait), waiting around for transportation and any other number of things.

The entire ceremony was translated into Kirundi. I can't imagine the speed at which the interpreter's brain was operating. The pastor is a very nice, southern bred man who spoke incredibly fast in terms of translating and used way too many American metaphors that proved very very difficult to translate into Kirundi! And he seemed clueless that these odd speech phrases should take longer to translate as the interpreter tried to wrap his brain around the real meaning and speak it in a way that the entire African congregation (barring myself and maybe 5 other people) would understand.

There was a small feast at the church following the ceremony. Complete with rice, cooked cabbage, beans, and lots of chicken in yummy sauce.

We then all trekked over to party #2 taking place at the Ice Center in Renton. And yes, there was ice. The room the wedding party used was a side room off a huge ice rink with a great view of the hockey game. None of the Burundians had ever seen a hockey game before and were glued to the window glass. While slightly odd, it was absolutely wonderful because it was chilly inside! Refreshing in light of the 90 plus degree weather.

There was a small arcade at the ice center and I had fun throwing in a few quarters to watch some of the kids discover a teeny merry go round and their moms discover table hockey. Very entertaining! :)

Today, I took some of my Burundian friends on a field trip to the beach. Well, Coulon beach here in Renton at the base of Lake Washington. But still fabulous in their eyes. The group consisted of a Burundian mom, sister-in law, two baby daughters (3 and 1) and a neighbor girl of 5. Another friend came with me and helped me transport and corral all the kids. It was the very first time the 1 yr old had ever been in the water and she loved it! All of us played in the water and every single age loved it. No fear whatsoever in these lil' Burundian girls!

We supplied Otter Pops too which was a hit. I must say, today I rediscovered my love for otter pops and capri suns. And that love runs deep.

While at the park with the girls, I had two different people ask me if I had adopted. Not really an appropriate question I admit, but I also have to admit to myself that I would love to adopt someday!

And look--my new house! Ok, duplex. Ours is the one on the right. Siamese twins. We signed papers on Saturday, yay! Great location in Madison Valley, about 3 blocks away from the southern most part of the Arboretum. I called the owner 5 minutes after he posted the craigs list add and he mainly operated by first come first serve. I am hoping to move a bunch of my stuff this Friday so that I don't burden my roommate with moving my crap after I leave for Africa.

Recycled Favorite Dress

I nanny a four year old little girl, K. I have been her nanny for about 8 months now and am absolutely in love with her. Her mom donates clothing often to the IRC and recently gave me a lot of her daughters clothes which I distributed among our newest refugee clients. When I knocked on the door to a new Eritrean family in order to deliver a sofa, a little girl answered the door wearing K's favorite dress. Last winter K adored this dress and wore it for at least 5 minutes every day that I saw her. It is now obvious that this is now the little Eritrean girl's favorite dress. I had to snap a picture to share it with the donor. I often have this unique perspective--I donate many of my own clothes and household items and see it among lots of different refugee families. Most other donors never see their donated goods again, unlike me who sees my 'old' things pop up all the time on other people and in other homes! It is beautiful.

Bangles

I was given Nepalese bangles the other day. Lovely gift. I was introducing a new mentor to a newly arrived Bhutanese family from Nepal. Honestly, my attitude wasn't the greatest as I had to stay late after work to facilitate the introduction. But it didn't take long for me to know it was worth it.

The family was thrilled to have a new American friend. There are a total of 6 siblings and 3 girls are all around my age and speak great English. They beckoned me and the volunteer into their bedroom. Their mom joined us and amidst giggling and shy smiles they closed the door as everyone piled onto one bed. Girl time! They announced they had gifts for us and immediately begin loading glass bangles onto our wrists. It took some effort! I don't view my hands and wrists as particularly large, but this was no easy task! As they proudly told me they brought these bangles from their country of Nepal, they wrestled onto my wrist. I thought I would try to help and only succeeded in breaking one! I felt badly but the girls only laughed and quickly shoved on a replacement bangle.

I have not removed these bangles since. I don't see how I can unless I seriously grease/lotion up my hand! And so I have jingling my way along life for a few days now. I kinda like it. :) They are red, shiny and purty.



Bhutanese refugees have lived for many years in Nepal and are being processed in Kathmandu.

Summer Youth Program

I worked hard to enroll all of our refugee kids in the Tukwila District summer school. Not an easy feat when you have about 35 kids, lots of paperwork and lots of parents that don't speak English that need to sign the paperwork.

For the brand new arrivals throughout the summer, the IRC is providing a new school orientation morning program. Interns walk the kids to/from school--a miniature parade every day.

I have worked with an after school program to provide afternoon activities for the kids.

This is just a glimpse........

A New Life

I find myself all alone

In the office anyway. It is 12:30 and I have been a very good delegator especially with the new summer interns. I have one intern taking two Burmese Karen women to the Baby Boutique which allows them to 'shop' for baby donations. I have another intern helping a caseworker set up an apartment for a new arrival today. My third intern just set off to help a Bhutanese gentleman and Karen gentleman learn the rules of the road. The two guys are now neighbors and they walked to the office. On the way they realized they do not understand any of the "rules." So I have an intern taking them about to explain the walking hand, green v. red, stop signs, never walk along highways, etc. If they encounter a pay phone along they way, they will try to call Thailand in order for the Karen guy to talk to his family left behind in the refugee camp.

So I am here in the office by myself. It's a slow email day. A lot of caseworkers are gone for an all week training so I am mostly telling walk-ins and calls that no one is here.

I am also surrounded by a heap of clothes that will be on its way to the Goodwill. On the top of the pile is a coon hat. We sorted through even more clothes in order to organize storage and give things away. While I laugh at some of the things that people donate--like a pirate hat and southern belle hat--I really shouldn't. Sometimes refugees choose things that I would have put in the Goodwill pile. Like the Burundian that walked out of the office with a huge felt Dr. Suess looking hat. He certainly saved that one from my Goodwill pile!

Artvocacy 2008

Unfortunately I will not be attending this event as I will be visiting extended family in CA this weekend. But if you are around, you should! I am coordinating volunteers for the event. Performers will include Sudanese rappers, Karen singers and dancers and a Burundian choir to just name a few!