My first week of "serving" (since I'm a glorified volunteer) is almost over! I really like what is happening at my site, Mary's Place. (Check out their website when you get a chance: http://www.marysplaceoutreach.org/mpo/ ) They help refugees that have been placed in the area by offering free ESL classes, food and clothing donations, and after-school tutoring, among other things. Kathy first started the non-profit organization in 2009 and it has been growing ever since. People are coming and going as they have received the knowledge they need to make a living in the US and more people are being relocated to the area all the time.
God really had my back on this one I think! After applying to Rochester Youth Year, the program I am under within AmeriCorps, I was wait-listed. Crushed, I started to look for other similar opportunities in the Rochester area, one in particular was working at Nativity Prep School in the city. Two days before I was going to leave for Uganda, I received a call from the Roberts Dean of Student Life, Brenda. She said there was a very important email I needed to check before I left for my trip......
I was accepted! I was so excited, but I was quickly hit with all the emotions and wonderful people of Uganda. All through the rest of summer, training, up until I actually got to Mary's Place, I periodically felt like I had made the wrong choice because this had almost nothing to do with anything God has placed on my heart. SURPRISEEEE!
My dream to open and run my own arts community center had been my main motivation to gain experience in the non-profit world (I also wasn't quite ready for my own classroom yet). But beyond gaining knowledge about non-profits, I have also put to use things I learned from my trip to Uganda. Mary's Place serves many different types of people including Burmese, Nepali, and Africans from Congo, Zambia, and South Sudan. I have been able to share my love for chapatti and samosa (pastry type things with vegetables inside) with them. We talked about different languages and all kinds of things. Its a slightly Americanized version of Africa in the US. WHile the circumstances that brought these people to the US aren't any where near the best, I love it!
I am stoked to learn more about the Burmese and Nepali, too! I am already planning awareness nights and food sharing events in my head, as well as marketing tools and ways to improve the programs already in place.
On a different note, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the house I moved into with fellow Roberts grads! My housemates are Christine and Bethany, both are nurses and have a great love for the outdoors. Mom and Corey came up for my day off this week to help me get organized and bring some odds and ends up. I now have a dresser and mattress! (I'd been sleeping on the floor until Wednesday) My mother has OCD and felt the need to clean every square inch of the 1.5 bathrooms in the house... Thanks, Mom! :)
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