Friday, June 6, 2008
Washington D.C
I had an amazing time with the Washington D.C group. Our group as you already know worked with the hungry and homeless and it was a trip that gave me a greater sense of self awareness as well as impacted my life. The stories that we heard from both volunteers and a special speaker named Jo- Ann really made me think about how we are dealing or more so not really dealing with the problem of poverty and homelessness and I think a really important idea that was stressed when people talked to us was the multi faceted causes of homelessness that we arent exempt from and listening to the stories of the homeless and hungry guests we ate dinner with sometimes it is just one bad choice that you make that can change your life and we are all human and aren't exempt from making bad choices and I think that was something I have thought about a lot both during and after the trip.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Missing Room 13
As we all know tomorrow is the day of our presentations and i have been doing a lot of thinking regarding my stay at Laurel Hill and what i learned from my students and my experience. I didn't expect room 13 and the kids in it to have such a profound impact on my life but I find myself thinking about them frequently. Many of the children in my class came from broken homes with very little support and love and i find my heart breaking over the fact that they have no one to guide them in their future. I now see what people mean by the next generation is the future. The children were so beautiful and brilliant and the fact that they may be left behind and forgotten is a travesty. What i have taken with me from this internship is the power of change, we actually can make an impact on these children's lives and their future.
South Dakota
(I disabled that silly Hindi transliteration thing, everything should be in English from here on out)
The first day we arrived at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, we were greeted by a meal of mystery meat topped with a layer of mushy tater tots and a side of cauliflower. Based on the food selection alone, I immediately freaked out. I wondered how I was going to survive for a week on such unappetizing fare. Then Tom (the director of the organization) said something that changed my attitude about the whole situation. He basically told us that we ate better than everyone else on the reservation. As the week went on, I realized Tom really wasn't kidding. There is mind-numbing poverty on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. 19 people in a one bed-room trailer home, no running water, no electricity, no telephone, and no income-- and these are all common occurrences. For a reservation that is slightly larger than Connecticut, there is only one supermarket. The life expectancy is the second lowest in the whole western hemisphere. Children as young as 5 are often involved in gang activities and drug-dealing. When I heard these facts, I couldn't believe them. It was really eye-opening. After hearing these things, I couldn't help but feel a little angry and guilty. But the ever-so-wise Tom soon reminded us that it wasn't his goal to make us feel guilty. Instead, he wanted us to stand alongside the Lakota people and be their advocate. Overall, it was amazing week. I learned so much and I'm so glad I had this experience.
-Liz
The first day we arrived at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, we were greeted by a meal of mystery meat topped with a layer of mushy tater tots and a side of cauliflower. Based on the food selection alone, I immediately freaked out. I wondered how I was going to survive for a week on such unappetizing fare. Then Tom (the director of the organization) said something that changed my attitude about the whole situation. He basically told us that we ate better than everyone else on the reservation. As the week went on, I realized Tom really wasn't kidding. There is mind-numbing poverty on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. 19 people in a one bed-room trailer home, no running water, no electricity, no telephone, and no income-- and these are all common occurrences. For a reservation that is slightly larger than Connecticut, there is only one supermarket. The life expectancy is the second lowest in the whole western hemisphere. Children as young as 5 are often involved in gang activities and drug-dealing. When I heard these facts, I couldn't believe them. It was really eye-opening. After hearing these things, I couldn't help but feel a little angry and guilty. But the ever-so-wise Tom soon reminded us that it wasn't his goal to make us feel guilty. Instead, he wanted us to stand alongside the Lakota people and be their advocate. Overall, it was amazing week. I learned so much and I'm so glad I had this experience.
-Liz
W&I Hospital
Hey everyone.
So this time I am actually going to put up a real post! OKay. I was at Women and Infants Hospital for the past two weeks. I was working in the pathology lab in the different departments. Pathology, i.e. Blood, Organs, Bodily fluids, and other cool stuff like that. The whole experience was really fascinating. I learned a lot about what goes on behind the scenes. Like on the med TV shows when some one (like House) says "Go run a full blood work up and Test for such and such" I got to see how that happens. I also worked in the family van for a day, which goes out into the community and runs free glucose and cholsterol (sp?) testing.
I enjoyed the week (except when I had to get up at 4:30 in the morning so i could follow the phlebotomist on her morning rounds. Not only did i have to wake up at a crazy time, i also had to watch her draw blood and i HATE needles). It was truly a learning experience. I am now pretty sure I do not want to be a Medical technician. However, I still love Ebola so maybe the CDC or USAMRIID has an opening...lol
FG
P.S. the picture is a waste container that they use for dumping chemicals. I obviously played with it a little...
South Dakota
I did my project at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota with the Re-member organization with Liz, Caroline and Nilses. Re-member is a non-profit organization that is basically outreach to the Lakota Oglala people. To be honest, I had no idea what to expect of this trip. I didn't even know what to expect from South Dakota, since I'd never been to that part of the country. The minute we got off the plane, even before we got off the plane, as we were landing, we could tell that this was a completely different place than Rhode Island. The land just went on forever, and there were no houses. As we approached the Reservation, and drove through the Reservation, we could see the run down houses, with broken down cars in the front lawn. We later learned that many of the Natives take broken down cars and sell the parts that work, to make a little extra money for essentials, like food. Most people on the reservation don't have jobs (unemployment is 80-90%), so its the little things like that that get them through day to day.
On Sunday we went to Wounded Knee, where we picked up trash. That afternoon, we went to The Badlands, which was amazing. On Monday, we stayed at the Re-member campus at the workshop to make bunk beds. Tuesday was by far the hardest day. We went to a woman named Yvette's house to clean out the huge piles of trash in her backyard. Many of the Lakota people are so poor, they have no other way of getting rid of their trash, except to throw it in their backyard. There were two huge piles, we don't even know how long they'd been there. There was everything back there, even an old oven. Food, clothes, toys. There were mice crawling through the trash, as we picked it up. Yes, it was physically trying, but it was mostly hard to see someone live like this, especially someone as nice as Yvette who has up to 17 people living in her house at once. She takes in people who don't have anywhere else to go. We learned this was common among the Lakota people, because they have such a strong sense of family. It was so crazy meeting these people who have absolutely nothing, but literally gave up the coats on their backs for us when we looked like we were cold. Thursday was great too; we distributed the beds we'd made earlier in the week. Although it was hard, the sadness was forgotten when we saw the happiness on these people's faces when they saw their new beds, with mattresses and sheets.
Overall, this experience was irreplaceable, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the time. The Lakota people are so giving, like I said before. They look at you with a smile, and make jokes. Re-member has a great reputation on the Reservation, and when we drove around in the bus, we would get waves and peace signs from the Lakota people. I think we were all a little nervous going, especially because I couldn't properly operate a drill for my life, but that doesn't matter. Just showing up with a smile is enough :)
Madeleine
On Sunday we went to Wounded Knee, where we picked up trash. That afternoon, we went to The Badlands, which was amazing. On Monday, we stayed at the Re-member campus at the workshop to make bunk beds. Tuesday was by far the hardest day. We went to a woman named Yvette's house to clean out the huge piles of trash in her backyard. Many of the Lakota people are so poor, they have no other way of getting rid of their trash, except to throw it in their backyard. There were two huge piles, we don't even know how long they'd been there. There was everything back there, even an old oven. Food, clothes, toys. There were mice crawling through the trash, as we picked it up. Yes, it was physically trying, but it was mostly hard to see someone live like this, especially someone as nice as Yvette who has up to 17 people living in her house at once. She takes in people who don't have anywhere else to go. We learned this was common among the Lakota people, because they have such a strong sense of family. It was so crazy meeting these people who have absolutely nothing, but literally gave up the coats on their backs for us when we looked like we were cold. Thursday was great too; we distributed the beds we'd made earlier in the week. Although it was hard, the sadness was forgotten when we saw the happiness on these people's faces when they saw their new beds, with mattresses and sheets.
Overall, this experience was irreplaceable, and I would recommend it to anyone who has the time. The Lakota people are so giving, like I said before. They look at you with a smile, and make jokes. Re-member has a great reputation on the Reservation, and when we drove around in the bus, we would get waves and peace signs from the Lakota people. I think we were all a little nervous going, especially because I couldn't properly operate a drill for my life, but that doesn't matter. Just showing up with a smile is enough :)
Madeleine
My post didn't show up last time so I'm trying this again.
I did my internship at Child and Family Services of Fall River. I was given a desk and a laptop and an email account (!!) for the duration of my stay with 6 ladies who work for Parent Mentors. They go out into the community and visit homes to see how families can change their lifestyles so they can keep their children. It's a very difficult job.
The best part was when I went on a retreat I had helped plan last weekend because they ended up paying me 100.00 for taking pictures. Technically my internship was up so I had been hired for the weekend!
Bente
I did my internship at Child and Family Services of Fall River. I was given a desk and a laptop and an email account (!!) for the duration of my stay with 6 ladies who work for Parent Mentors. They go out into the community and visit homes to see how families can change their lifestyles so they can keep their children. It's a very difficult job.
The best part was when I went on a retreat I had helped plan last weekend because they ended up paying me 100.00 for taking pictures. Technically my internship was up so I had been hired for the weekend!
Bente
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
internship
Hey Everyone
I did my internship at Crayons Child Care Center in West Warwick. I worked in the infant room and it was a lot of fun playing with babies all day long. The kids were very cute and the place where i worked was really nice. The Center mainly works with mentally handicapped kids and most of the infants had some sort of disability although its hard to tell since they are all so little. One little girl is so small that she is only 9 pounds at 7 months and then there was one baby that was probably a good 25 pounds at 5 months old but both of them were really adorable. I mainly spent my time playing with the kids or feeding them. Overall it was a really fun experience. I did have one incident however that was a bit amusing as i was washing down the cribs I somehow managed to bump into the fire alarm pulling down the fire alarm and setting off the alarm. Everyone in the entire building had to evacuate and about 6 fire trucks showed up to the school. It was incredibly embarrassing and i felt so bad but looking back now of course i would do something like that.. hah i am such a mess. I hope everyone else had a fun time at their internships i know i had a great time at mine!
all the best
Erika
I did my internship at Crayons Child Care Center in West Warwick. I worked in the infant room and it was a lot of fun playing with babies all day long. The kids were very cute and the place where i worked was really nice. The Center mainly works with mentally handicapped kids and most of the infants had some sort of disability although its hard to tell since they are all so little. One little girl is so small that she is only 9 pounds at 7 months and then there was one baby that was probably a good 25 pounds at 5 months old but both of them were really adorable. I mainly spent my time playing with the kids or feeding them. Overall it was a really fun experience. I did have one incident however that was a bit amusing as i was washing down the cribs I somehow managed to bump into the fire alarm pulling down the fire alarm and setting off the alarm. Everyone in the entire building had to evacuate and about 6 fire trucks showed up to the school. It was incredibly embarrassing and i felt so bad but looking back now of course i would do something like that.. hah i am such a mess. I hope everyone else had a fun time at their internships i know i had a great time at mine!
all the best
Erika
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