DC was awesome! It was a week filled with site seeing, great people and great opportunities and learning experiences. I think my favorite part of the site seeing was the International Spy Museum. Everyone on the trip seemed to agree that we didn't get enough time to spend in this awesome museum. The last full day was spent on Capitol Hill where we got to meet with our representatives (or in my case, my representative's Aide) to talk to them about childhood cancer survivor issues and legislation that affects childhood cancer survivors.
Since I've been back it feels like it's been non stop for me. Between fighting a cold, increasingly hurting wisdom teeth, crappy weather and Census training this week all I want to do is crawl in bed and sleep. But hopefully the weather will warm up in the next couple of days and make everything feel a little better.
I think Adam and I have decided that we are going to move to Austin, Texas. I've never been to Texas and honestly never put much thought into going to Texas. It's a decision that we have made after very little discussion really. Originally Adam had suggested the idea of going on a road trip to Austin and somehow it turned into us moving there instead. Adam isn't too much a fan of Chicago winters and I can't really say that I am either. We both think it would be nice to have a fresh start somewhere as I think it will give both of us the motivation we need. Also even though I have never been to Austin before, I have honestly never heard a bad thing about it. I started looking at graduate programs at UT and was really excited to find a Social Work program taught by a woman that has done a lot of work on Human Trafficking. They also have an Audiology program, which Adam is interested in. The plan (in my head any way) would be to move to Austin in August so that I could work a for a year and then receive in-state tuition the following year. That's the plan. Not sure how it will all work it's self out but I'm really excited about figure it out and making it happen.
April 28, 2010
Texas
April 16, 2010
My Refugee Sewing Class featured in NY Times
By MERIBAH KNIGHT
Published: April 15, 2010
Agencies Are Stretched in Efforts to Aid Refugees
The hum of sewing machines echoed through the basement of the United Church of Rogers Park on a recent Friday morning. Refugee women from Bhutan, Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia sat at the machines, exchanging smiles and nods, but few words.
Mostly they pointed and motioned. Myanmar needed scissors from Ethiopia. Bhutan needed help from Iraq to thread her machine. Eritrea was having trouble with her bobbin. Could Ethiopia help? Yes, of course. It’s nice to know they are not completely alone, the women said, even if the verbal exchange is difficult.
“We want the women to feel empowered while gaining skills that they can use,” said Melineh Kano, the program director of Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries, the Chicago-based refugee resettlement organization responsible for the weekly class. What started as one day a week has now grown to three, attended by an average of 15 women — both the agency’s clients and others — who want to sew and socialize.
Women comprise more than half of all refugees worldwide, and classes like the one in Rogers Park offer access to a social and skill-building environment, said Helen Sweitzer, director of the women’s programs at the interfaith ministries. All of the machines and material are donated, a necessity at a time when state budget cuts are prompting major reductions in taxpayer financing of resettlement programs.
Even as budgets are slashed, arrivals are surging. Since 2003, refugee arrivals in Illinois have increased 175 percent, and the number of countries sending refugees has gone to 60 from 31. Iraqi refugees, according to the United States Office of Refugee Resettlement, went from zero to 1,298 from 2006 to 2009, making Chicago home to the second-largest Iraqi population in the country after Detroit.
Illinois and nine other states received more than half of all incoming refugees to the United States in 2008, the last year for which data is available. Yet severe cuts in financing —Illinois will receive $2.8 million in 2010 for resettlement services, down from $7.5 million in 2000 — have strained the budgets of local resettlement agencies.
What was once a public and private partnership has become increasingly private, said Ed Silverman, who directs the Illinois Bureau of Refugee and Immigrant Services.
Resettlement agencies are trying to keep up with the growing diversity of the refugee population with culturally appropriate counseling, translation and other services. Greg Wangerin, the interfaith ministries’ executive director, said the agency resettled refugees from 44 countries in 2008, its busiest year to date. But tight budgets forced it to stop taking “free cases,” those that are not family reunifications, he said.
“We want nothing more than to resettle refugees,” Mr. Wangerin said. “But we don’t want to do it sloppily.”
Last fall, the organization suspended its women’s sewing cooperative, an extension of the class that allowed women to sell their goods and receive 50 percent of the profits.
“We don’t have the additional funds to buy nicer fabric, pay the teacher for an extra day and rent out booths at different fairs to sell the items,” Ms. Sweitzer said.
The resettlement agencies got some relief in January when the United States State Department increased a one-time stipend for food, clothing and shelter to between $900 and $1,100 from $450. But the money is allotted for individuals and cannot be applied to services like the sewing class.
Tulasa Biswa, 30, a refugee from Bhutan who arrived 13 months ago with her husband and 4-year-old son, attends the class regularly. Ms. Biswa was 12 when her family left Bhutan in the back of a truck, a week after the government told the country’s ethnic Nepalese that they were no longer welcome. The government revoked their citizenship, forcing them over the border to Nepal and into a refugee camp that Ms. Biswa called home for the next 18 years.
“It was a miserable life,” Ms. Biswa said. High winds periodically tore through the camp, forcing her family to huddle in the middle of its bamboo hut and hold down the roof with a battered rope.
“I would pray to God that the wind would not take away our home,” she said, shaking her head.
Sitting in her neat apartment furnished with couches and chairs covered with brightly colored seat covers and crocheted doilies she has made, Ms. Biswa recalled her family’s arrival in Chicago in February 2009, the coldest winter in more than a decade. No one in the family had a proper coat, and it was the first time they had seen snow. When they entered their Rogers Park apartment, set up by the Ethiopian Community Association, it had only kitchenware and a single bed. Twice a day for the next two months, she and her husband went out looking for furniture left out for trash collection.
“We didn’t have money, and we had an empty house,” Ms. Biswa said.
Many of the women in the sewing group live in the diverse neighborhood of Rogers Park. Some social service agencies are able to secure refugee apartments with little more than a verbal agreement with landlords and a bit of good faith. “How can you say ‘I have this imaginary family coming in two weeks and we need an apartment with no lease?’ ” Ms. Kano said. “They must trust us.”
Back in the church’s sewing room, women milled about asking questions and socializing. Dei Thluai, from Myanmar, barely speaks a word of English, but with the help of universal hand gestures and a few women who act as translators, she has become a popular fixture in the class. In another corner, Sarah Araya, from Eritrea, asked for help with a pair of gauzy curtains from Tafesech Feyissa, an Ethiopian with luminous brown skin and a scarification tattoo on her forehead.
“We can talk because we speak the same language,” Ms. Araya said.
Across the room, Taggrid Albosherif, 36, worked on a blanket for summer picnics with her family. Ms. Albosherif came to Chicago from Iraq in 1997 to be reunited with her husband. In 2005 he went back to Iraq, leaving her and their four children behind. He has been missing for four years and six months.
“He’s dead — he’s kidnapped,” Ms. Albosherif said without emotion.
Five months ago, she was laid off from her job as a cashier, an increasingly common experience among refugees that experts said causes them to depend more on agencies, even as their resources dwindle.
She stopped working on her picnic blanket and took a moment to explain why the class is an important fixture in her life.
“I enjoy my time here; I love doing things for my family,” said Ms. Albosherif, who hopes to help refugees and abused women by working at an organization like the Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Ministries. “It was my dream to come to America. Some days that dream comes true. Some days it’s really tough.”
New York Times original article
April 2, 2010
Yay! Census Job!
While listening to Hall and Oates vinyls, drinking tea and writing cover letters I just noticed I missed a call. It was from the Census. A couple months ago I applied for a Census job, took a test and have been waiting to hear from them. Well they want to give me a job which is great because I could really use one right now. 25 hours/week at $18.25/hour sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me. And the training is the week after I get back from Washington DC which works out great!
Yesterday I attended my first ever job fair. It was for government jobs, which also sounds like a pretty sweet deal if I could get one. I waiting in lines for 5 hours to talk to people for less than a minute. It's difficult to say if the experience was worth it or if it will give me any sort of edge on a job. But it was nice to wear grown up clothes and get some experience talking to people about my skills and experience. It was also nice to learn about all the different jobs offered even thought to apply to most of them you have to fill out lengthy online applications.
Well I'm off to finish this cover letter for an AmeriCorp job I'm interested in and then I'm going to enjoy some sunshine with Ida.
March 31, 2010
March 28, 2010
Burrow Bed
While browsing Target.com looking for things I might potentially want, but don't necessarily need I came across the Burrow Bed.
I made Ida a bed when we first got her. She sleeps in it but much prefers the bed or couch mostly because she LOVES being under blankets. Unfortunately the bed only comes in a small size, but fortunately for me it would probably be much cheaper for me to make it myself. So that's what I will do!
March 24, 2010
Finished!
Yesterday I finished quilting and binding my second quilt. I got the pattern from Oh, Fransson!'s blog. It was my first attempt at free motion quilting. It went alright, I definitely got better at it the more practice I got. I'm sure most people wouldn't notice the flaws (the skipped stitches, the overlapping stitches, or the varying lengths of stitches) like I do. I think it's just something I need a lot of practice at first before I master it.
The next quilt I really want to make is Denyse Schmidt's Single Girl. I bought the pattern a couple weeks ago, but I haven't had the money to build up my fat quarter stash. It takes about 30 different fat quarters and I've been very particular about which ones I want to use. Right around my birthday I ordered about 8 quarter yard pieces from Sew, Mama, Sew! and waited and waited to get them in the mail. They never came and when I contacted the company they told me that the tracking number showed that they had been delivered and that I had to contact my post office. I tried calling them and after waiting on hold for 30 minutes they weren't able to tell me anything. So I decided to go into the post office a couple days later. After waiting for a supervisor for about 30 minutes I was told that they would talk to the carrier but since there was no insurance on the package I wouldn't be able to claim anything. So I've now accepted the fact that I'm just out the $25 since the company seems to be ignoring my emails. Too bad, so sad.
March 23, 2010
What I've been doing
Wong-O-Wong, has it really been a month? I really don't know why it's been so long since I've made a post. I've been doing stuff, just haven't been in the mood to blog about it.
The following is some photographic evidence of said stuff:
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