This week at Exodus was one of my best weeks in Indianapolis. On June 20th, we were able to celebrate World Refugee Day with my students, as well as other members of the Burmese population on a farm called Indy Urban Acres.
I have to admit that sometimes it is easy to forget how much of a difference we actually make. Working in the office, entering data, and keeping track of attendance are all important parts of the upkeep of the organization, but I often find myself losing track of what we are actually working toward. This has made me realize how much I really enjoy actually working directly with the people that we are serving. Sure, the office work is needed; it's crucial to the efficiency and structure of the organization. But now I realize that when I decide to go out in the real world and pursue a career, if I'm not working with the people then I'd rather not work at all :)
Lately I've been feeling a little burned out; I've been tired and running out of money and trying to keep up with all of my intern projects at the office. And to be honest, I think I've been losing a little bit of my motivation to do a good job at my work. I'm sure we all go through this in every job we ever have. When we first start, we feel excited and ready to tackle new challenges because we understand that we are going to be making a difference. However, you reach a point where you start losing sight of that difference and start forgetting why you signed up for this job in the first place. When you wake up in the morning, you want to sleep in that extra hour. You are counting the minutes towards the lunch break and 5:00, and when you get home from work, it's all you can do to make your way up the stairs to your bed. I think a lot of Americans go through this, and for some people, this phase never ends. Americans work extremely hard, and it makes us worn out and unable to do much else besides lay on the couch on our days off. And I gotta tell ya, that life is not for me.
However, every once in a while you are pleasantly reminded of the reason why you took the job in the first place. Maybe it's the fact that you get 4 weeks of vacation. Maybe it's that really big Christmas bonus. For me, it was World Refugee Day. I finally got to go to work dressed as my actual self: shorts, a headband, and a grubby tank top. And why? Because this was a day to celebrate what it means to be a refugee, and we were going to the farm. Indy Urban Acres is an organic farm in Indianapolis that grows food for low-income families in the city that can't afford to buy healthy things to eat. For World Refugee Day on June 20th, we took our students out to their gardens to work together with the staff and do some farming for the community.
The coolest part about this whole day was that many of our students were farmers or worked on farms in their home countries, so I could tell that being able to be outside and doing something that was familiar to them did a lot of good. After arriving to the United States, being placed in an apartment with neighbors they don't know and trying to learn a language that many of them have no experience with is a challenge in and of itself. Most of us are unable to imagine this kind of reality, so next time you think your life is hard, maybe think twice about that and think about some people who might be in your own community going through an experience not unlike that of the refugees. And use that to do some good in the world.
The farming day was also good for me, because not only had I grown up around farming communities, I also worked on an organic vegetable farm the summer before I went to college, and so pulling weeds was definitely something that I had done before. But I was no match for some of the students; I don't think I've ever seen such fast weed-pulling in my life. They worked like pros, swift and mighty. We worked in pairs, so I got to work across from one of my students, and it was really nice to be able to have a conversation outside of English class with him. He taught me some words in his language, one of which is "Siama" which means "teacher." He now calls me Siama, and now I know whenever that word comes up in conversation, someone's talking about me! He told me that in Burma his English teachers were very bad, and that when he had questions, he often had to go without answers. Since he is one of my most inquisitive students, he told me how much he appreciates that I answer all his questions the best I can. It's moments like this when I am reminded that yes, I am in fact making a difference. This is why I wanted this job. This is why I need to wake up every morning.
At the end of what was the most rewarding day of my summer, I walked back to the car with another student of mine. I asked him if he enjoyed the day, and you know what he said? "When I farm, my heart is good. When I am at home, my heart is sad." I was so happy that the students could get a day to go out and do something that they loved and something that was familiar to them. I'm sure in their daily routines they feel as though everything is a struggle, from going to the grocery store to riding a bus to speaking English to paying bills. Things that we think of as easy, as things to check off our simple to-do lists, are real challenges for some people. So to give them a day to do something that they are good at, something they know that they can do, made them happier than any English class I've given them.
So, if you have a minute, take some time to learn about refugees and about the journey they make. And if you have any living in your home community, volunteer and help them out. Because although it may seem like a small difference, to someone else, it could mean the world :) Thank you
Anna
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