Volunteering with NICE this semester has exposed me to a way of life I have only ever seen from afar—mostly through news media. Meeting, observing, and speaking to the refugees NICE serves has turned the abstract idea of them as a group into the concrete knowledge of them as individuals. Of course, my time with them has been brief compared to the people who work at NICE, but a little can go a long way.
I feel that the ways in which I was involved with NICE has given me an understanding of the human stories of refugees living in Nashville. I have seen where they live; I have seen where they learn; I have seen where they come to receive the only help they are able to get in their new home. I’ve interviewed or talked to them. I’ve played with their children. This is knowledge I can share with others now. On our drive back from the CPR workshop, at which I had mostly played with the refugee children while their mothers learned, Kathy said to me, “Who would ever want to keep those beautiful children out of this country?” I can say this too, having held them or given them crayons or just made them laugh.
None of this would be possible without the service-learning component of this course. I think the service aspect has informed my writing as well as inspired me to truly put effort into my assignments. My experience with NICE and the refugees made the work personal, which for me is the ultimate motivator. I even plan to continue volunteering with NICE because I enjoyed the environment so much. The staff, the fellow volunteers, and the refugees were all incredibly friendly and welcoming to me.
I think I’ve developed better communication skills through my service experience. The atmosphere at NICE is so fast-paced and they never really know what will be happening day to day. In my first volunteer experience I ran into some communication issues and was unable to do the entirety of what I had come for. I know this was partly my fault, and I was able to learn a lesson from it. When I attended the CPR class I had to communicate with the refugees, including some who were probably still learning English. The ability to communicate with people who are different from me in many ways actually helps break down the barriers of difference.