Speaking with Muslims

I work VERY part time with Select Health, usually working at health fairs and performing biometric screenings. Some of the SH group working these fairs are employees, but quite a few are interns from various schools such as BYU/UofU/UVU.

At one of the last fairs, I decided to be brave and during the lulls, I got a bit personal with two of the interns. Both attend the U of U and both are Muslim. One is from Africa and one from Pakistan. One is married and the other is not. I was afraid of getting too personal, but I asked them if it was appropriate and ok with them if I asked, and they both said it would be fine. Now after reading this chapter I wonder if it was because they are such polite people:)

Mostly I asked questions regarding their hijab, their experiences living in Utah, the arranged marriage of Alia, etc. My main goal was to learn more about Muslims because my knowledge and experience with them has been so limited. But it was also what my daughter loved to remind me of, "exposure therapy". Not really therapy so much as exposure and broadening my comfort levels when speaking with someone who is different from me. I don't believe I have ever had a real conversation with someone wearing a hijab, I've often felt unsure of how to approach them or afraid of saying something offensive. But these two young ladies were very open with their answers. And just like we have different "levels" of practioners who follow Mormonism/Catholicism/Judaism, so I found out no two Muslims are exactly the same:)

A chat with Multicultural Student Services

A chat with Multicultural Student Services

Today I learned about Multicultural Student Services. I'm a little embarrassed that the only knowledge I have had of this office is when I've encountered other advisors at training, and briefly had conversations with them, primarily regarding that particular advisor and his/her history at BYU.

Today I called and chatted with Jessica for nearly 30 minutes. I can repeat everything she said to me, but I don't think I need to recall all the details here. What I DO want to talk about is SOAR. I have heard this term, new it was some kind of event - in my mind it was something like student orientation hosted by this office - but WOW! I had no idea!! To be able to give those students who may not have the advantage in their regular high school setting to come to BYU, learn about services and resources available to them, to study for the ACT and take it and actually use that score here at BYU if they choose...what a great opportunity for these high school juniors!!

I also love that they are assigned an advisor from that point on, and if they end up attending BYU they already have someone who is a mentor, there for that student in various capacities.  I love that! What a great blessing for someone who may be a first generation college student or for whom college just seems like a big scary institution.

I know the office does so much more than that, but learning about this educational type of EFY for multicultural students was an eye opener, and one I feel like I need to share with those students in high school that could take advantage of it!

Volunteering at the Children's Justice Center

Volunteering at the Children's Justice Center has been wonderful so far. So many thoughts before my first day: who would I be talking with, would they be young or old, how would the parent(s) demeanor be, etc. My job is to simply "be" with whatever children come in to be interviewed. I am not allowed to ask how they are doing or any other questions that may lead them to divulge sensitive information. How are you is pretty much the first thing that always comes out of my mouth!!!! I was nervous! But the first day was great.

The first client was a young man, a junior in high school. He had brought a friend a long this morning. The parent went with the counseling group and I got to chat with the boys. I had wondered what we were going to talk about, if anything. My only knowledge is that something had been done to this young boy, and how would my knowledge of that affect my interaction with this boy. I found myself wanting to ask more personal questions, but unable to (by law) I tried to get to know them by having them share information about their interests. As we were talking about soccer and their dreams about the future, I was thinking in the back of my mind, how am I speaking and reacting to these boys....am I acting normal? Am I being discriminatory at all? And I pre-judging? And to my relief I found that I was speaking to them as I would any teenage boys, with no preconceptions, even though I was privy to a small amount of background information.

The second group to come in was a family of three young girls, all there to be interviewed for some incident(s). Mom and dad came too. My first thought was, if I saw these girls at an elementary school, I would have non idea that something had happened to them, so I should go about this as if I know nothing. And we played, we went outside to look at the giant ant hill, we chatted....it was much easier to speak with them when I wiped away any preconceived notions about their situation.

By volunteering here, I believe I will be reminded over and over that there is more to each individuals story then we see in our brief, and in some instances, even our extended interactions with people and friends.

Day 2

...which is currently being experienced only minutes after Day 1.

I have chosen to read a couple books this term...The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Both are books about populations I know very little about: poverty level African Americans and Afghans/Pakistanis living in a war torn country.  Book reports to come.

I begin training today at the Children's Justice Center as an Onsite Victim Support volunteer. The commitment is 2 hrs/week for a minimum of 4 months. Details to come.

My goal this week is to find a group to serve here on campus.

I also plan to watch a documentary, I'm not sure what on, but ideally with the goal of increasing either my awareness, skills, and/or knowledge.

Watching Multicultural counseling videos....

A lot of ideas, now to put them into action.

Day 1

As this road trip of multicultural introspection and learning begins, I find myself to be very nervous. Not so much that I think I am an insensitive person or that I'm doing certain things wrong, but more so that for this spring term, I am being challenged to  do a lot of introspection and self evaluation, which I hate. I love to have fun, I love the Gospel, learning, hard work, hiking, serving, being a wife and mother, laughing, traveling...I do not like to look inwards and self-evaluate! But I am up for the challenge of stretching myself this term!!