When I first met our refugee family, the family was very welcoming and they greatly appreciated our help. We mostly worked with the young kids and helped them with their homework. Sometimes we would help the mom and the eldest daughter with their English. I think helping the children and coming to visit them every week made a difference in their lives because they had American friends who can teach them English and help them with homework. I feel like we made a difference helping the mom with her English because we were helping her study for the driver’s test and at the end she felt really confident that she would pass the test. This made me happy because I helped someone study and understand something that is new to them.
During my time at Loyola, I can improve my actions by attending meetings for the refugee outreach club and continue volunteering with refugee families. I plan on visiting my family again next year to check up on them and see how everyone is improving with their English and how the kids are doing in school. Some actions that I am already doing with this new knowledge is telling my friends and family about my experiences and making them aware of the issues refugee go through back in their home country and in the U.S. I really enjoyed working with my refugee family and this inspired me to further continue working with refugees and other social justice projects.