Anthony Ramsey
Dr. Anna Patton
SLC 101
21 November 2019
Service Action Proposal Reflection
I did my service action proposal with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. I chose this organization because of my passion and want to help people who are displaced, especially from places such as the Middle East or North Africa region. My proposal was fairly easy to complete because this organization has a good mission and plan to help people that come from this specific region. Going into this project I felt confident that I was going to learn about how I could get more involved with people who are displaced, not just from the Middle East and North Africa region but from around the world. I expected to be presented with fairly solid information about how my community partner is helping displaced people of the world and that is exactly what I recieved. It showed me that my community partner is put together fairly well and knows its objectives for helping other people.
Personally, my view on my area of service did not change. I still view it as a positive way to help others, especially those who are in a position where they have nothing. What truly impacted me to choose to follow this path towards helping people is my love for other cultures and languages. This love has inspired me to want to learn more about other cultures and people with the intent of turning around and helping them with my newly found knowledge.
When it comes to my Strengths Talent Themes, I can see myself using includer the most during this process. Includer is all about involving those who are left out and specifically with my proposal I am coming from a direction where I am helping those who feel like they are neglected in the new home they have to make for themselves. I also used my theme of futuristic because I look at the future for these people and help them imagine what their new lives in America could be like. The one way I can see that my themes were challenged was in allowing myself to not only be aware of the people of the Middle East and North Africa who are refugees but also people from other places who have had to leave their home. I cannot be focused on helping just one sector of people I have to be willing to help all people despite being able to speak their language or not.
For my project, there are many root causes. One of them is inequality. The fact that people have varying differences in where they live and the stark inequalities that cause some areas to be less safe and resources to be unequally spread cause others to have to move from their homelands. Another issue is war and corrupt governments. Concerning war, when there is unrest that puts normal citizens in harm’s way it disrupts a person’s ability to raise a family, work, and live a happy productive life if they always have to worry about the constant threat of death. Concerning corrupt governments, when there is an institution in power that does not work for the people it allows for inequality to run rampant and for people to not be able to operate successfully.
With my project, what will contribute to its success is community involvement. With the help of everyone in the community enough resources will be able to be procured to complete the proposal I have set up. What would hinder my success would be lack of community involvement. This proposal really relies on the help of others and their generosity. Without it the proposal would not be able to gain any traction and would not be able to help anyone.
In conclusion to my project, I really was able to learn that the smallest things can help make big transitions easier for people. I also learned that when helping others you must be equitable and be willing to help all people not just certain populations. I will apply this to my life in the village by remembering to not just focus on helping those who are my friends but also on helping people who I am not as close with. In the end the only way to be a true includer is to include everyone not just the people you are comfortable including.