Hello all, and by all I mean the maybe 2 or 3 of you that read this blog, just to fill you guys in, I originally made this blog (yet have kept it empty since) about a month ago in order to follow and keep track of my sister, Heidi, and her husband, Roy. They like to post tidbits about their life and updates about how their new home is in Sienna Plantation. They are also training for triathlons, which is a big part of what they post.
I originally was going to post about my life as well and triathlon training, but have not had the "time" for in a while, until I found an excuse to post on here in the form of a volunteer blog. I will now devote most of my blogs to my volunteer experience in and around the Houston area through the Legacy Community Health Services clinic. I recently went to the clinic to check out the place and see the facilities. They are actually quite nice, and after talking to the very friendly volunteer coordinator, Ashley, I was all set up for my volunteer orientation.
The volunteer orientation was last Friday, February, 17. During this orientation, the main goal was "Sensitivity Training", where they helped the new volunteers see the world in a different way. Many people who come to the clinic have had a very different lifestyle due to their lack of substantial income, or due to a different education/culture. It is important that we realize these differences so that we may best accommodate those who are not familiar with what we do at the health clinic and so that we may accommodate ourselves to help these people in anyway we can. During our training, we watched a movie called "The Lost Boys of Sudan", which is a powerful and emotional movie about a famous group of African boys who were thrown into American culture with minimal help on how to cope with the new society. These boys were part of a small village in Sudan, and after their village was attacked and all of their parents killed, they ran and managed to get to the border of a neighboring country where they founded a refugee camp for them. Little by little, refugees were being sent to America who had opened their arms for the boys.
As touching as this was that the boys were able to go to America to have better lives and better health, their new life in America was not much easier. They struggled for jobs, schooling, and understanding for culture and way of life in America. Many of them did not speak any English, and it was difficult to make a living. In the end, some of the boys managed to graduate high school and hopefully went on to become active members of society with the power to increase awareness of the Lost Boys of Sudan. This movie did increase sensitivity and awareness for me, and it helped me see through the eyes of someone else things that I would never have thought about. They came from a different life, and I sometimes forget that I have had schooling and parents to teach me things since I was young, where some people may have never had that privilege.
With these newly acquired bits of wisdom, I hope to help the community and further increase my awareness of the conditions of the less fortunate. I have talked to Ashley about the volunteer opportunities and there are many from weekend events to clinical volunteering at one of the many clinics that Legacy has. I will keep you guys updated on my volunteering and look forward to my experience gained through helping out behind the curtains of our city.
