May 17, 2018 - A Final Week at MEDU
Mark here. Today was my last day at MEDU, and it deeply saddens me that my time with them is over. It has been a fantastic, even life-changing, experience. The professionals and staff I met and with whom I worked at MEDU, both in Rome and in Sicily, are some of the most dedicated, caring, and purely motivated people I have ever met. I learned so much from them about how to truly treat people with respect, to passionately care without becoming overwhelmed or neglecting one's boundaries, and about thinking outside the box to help other people. I'm so grateful that they were willing take a chance on me and take me in with open arms, when I had little to offer them.
The immigrants/refugees are even more impressive to me. I am still boggled by the strength, courage, ingenuity, resilience, etc. it takes to survive extremely difficult circumstances in one's hometown; to endure even worse treatment, atrocities, and setbacks on the journey to leave; and to establish a new life in a foreign country where one doesn't speak the language, knows no one, has no place to call home, deals daily with horrifying bureaucracy and racism, and feels purposeless because one cannot work or do anything productive in the prime years of life. These are amazing people who I admire greatly.
It felt incredibly stressful for us as we planned this sabbatical experience. I lost significant sleep as I worried about all of the details, including: setting up the professional experience, trying and failing to obtain visas, figuring out the financing, booking flights and rental cars, arranging housing, figuring out what to do with our Utah home, preparing everything in Utah for our absence, etc., etc. As I think of what all of that felt like, I find it impossible to comprehend what it must be like for these immigrants! I was quite stressed while having all of my needs met and with an incredible safety net in place (if my plans did not work out, I would just go back home to my exceptionally comfortable and pleasant life). What has it got to be like to have nothing in place, to face significant threats to one's life from nature and humans throughout the entire journey, to have the pressure of one's family counting on you to make it and send money back home, to not speak the language needed to plead one's case, to not know how to navigate a completely foreign governmental system, and on and on and on?!!
As I have come in contact with all of this, I have found myself vacillating between wanting to turn a blind eye and go back to ignorance about all that is going on and feeling the desire to give up my entire life to try to help the situation, even though there is an endless supply of those needing help. Neither of these options is workable to me. I want to find a middle ground where I remain actively aware of what is going on in the world and dedicated to relieving suffering, but where I also engage in the rest of my life and practice self-care and balance. It seems easier said than done.
This week has been a week of goodbyes and summary experiences. On Monday, to say goodbye, Heather, Hannah, and I went to lunch with the MEDU Psyche' (the psychological unit with whom I have been working) staff. Alberto Barbieri, Giulia Chiachella, Abdoulaye Toure, Federica Visco Comandini, Francesca Di Rienzo, and Vincenzo Russo are amazing people, who I consider dear friends.
I attended my last group session on Tuesday afternoon. It was raining quite hard before the group, and three of our five group members told us they would not be coming because of the rain. It made me sad not to be able to say goodbye to more of them and to not have a very productive last meeting. With only two members, we spent some time talking about how the group was going for them and what they would like from the group. We then went and got a gelato with them. They seemed to appreciate this. Despite the unsurprising difficulties of getting a group up and running, it seems like MEDU will continue using group therapy as a helpful modality for immigrants, and I really believe that group will be extremely effective for MEDU in the future.
On Tuesday night Heather, Hannah, and I went to dinner with all of the volunteers and staff of the MEDU camper, which included about 45 people. The entire restaurant was reserved for MEDU, and we had a delicious Ethiopian/Eritrean meal. It was fun to feel the energy of this group of amazing people, and we had a great time with them.
Wednesday night I went out for a final time with the MEDU Camper to the Baobab Camp near the Tiburtina Train Station. For those who read the LDS Church News, you may have seen the cover article ('Maybe we can help': A look into LDS Charities' efforts to ease the pain of refugees in Rome) of the May 11, 2018 edition that talks about MEDU working in this camp. By chance, when we arrived at the camp, there as a group of LDS singles, two sets of senior missionaries (including the missionaries we met at the LDS Institute), and some other leaders there to deliver food for the immigrants, which they do about once a month. It was fun to see them there.
As usual, it didn't seem like a good idea to be snapping pictures, but here are a couple I took. The first shows the inside of the camper with Mulu (in the white shirt) and Anita (in the green shirt), both of whom are mentioned in the Church News article. The second is a poor picture of the camp, which is actually much more vast than my picture shows.
There are 100s of tents, with different "neighborhoods" of people from the same country living nearby each other. The doctor met with 13 people that night, and though it definitely feels like a drop in the bucket of needs, it was, once again, inspiring to watch these caring people work. Though most of the immigrants in this camp are in their 20s, there are also many in this camp who are very young (15-18 years old).
Today (Thursday) I spent a typical day at MEDU, but during their regular weekly meeting they had me take considerable time talking about my observations of and recommendations for the group we have been running. It felt good to be able to help spur them to try using groups, as they have been thinking about it for some time. It seems like they have the confidence that they can effectively lead groups and that groups will be helpful to their patients.
As I said above, I'm very sad to leave, and I wish I could continue working with MEDU for the next three months. It has been an extremely rewarding experience!
The immigrants/refugees are even more impressive to me. I am still boggled by the strength, courage, ingenuity, resilience, etc. it takes to survive extremely difficult circumstances in one's hometown; to endure even worse treatment, atrocities, and setbacks on the journey to leave; and to establish a new life in a foreign country where one doesn't speak the language, knows no one, has no place to call home, deals daily with horrifying bureaucracy and racism, and feels purposeless because one cannot work or do anything productive in the prime years of life. These are amazing people who I admire greatly.
It felt incredibly stressful for us as we planned this sabbatical experience. I lost significant sleep as I worried about all of the details, including: setting up the professional experience, trying and failing to obtain visas, figuring out the financing, booking flights and rental cars, arranging housing, figuring out what to do with our Utah home, preparing everything in Utah for our absence, etc., etc. As I think of what all of that felt like, I find it impossible to comprehend what it must be like for these immigrants! I was quite stressed while having all of my needs met and with an incredible safety net in place (if my plans did not work out, I would just go back home to my exceptionally comfortable and pleasant life). What has it got to be like to have nothing in place, to face significant threats to one's life from nature and humans throughout the entire journey, to have the pressure of one's family counting on you to make it and send money back home, to not speak the language needed to plead one's case, to not know how to navigate a completely foreign governmental system, and on and on and on?!!
As I have come in contact with all of this, I have found myself vacillating between wanting to turn a blind eye and go back to ignorance about all that is going on and feeling the desire to give up my entire life to try to help the situation, even though there is an endless supply of those needing help. Neither of these options is workable to me. I want to find a middle ground where I remain actively aware of what is going on in the world and dedicated to relieving suffering, but where I also engage in the rest of my life and practice self-care and balance. It seems easier said than done.
This week has been a week of goodbyes and summary experiences. On Monday, to say goodbye, Heather, Hannah, and I went to lunch with the MEDU Psyche' (the psychological unit with whom I have been working) staff. Alberto Barbieri, Giulia Chiachella, Abdoulaye Toure, Federica Visco Comandini, Francesca Di Rienzo, and Vincenzo Russo are amazing people, who I consider dear friends.
I attended my last group session on Tuesday afternoon. It was raining quite hard before the group, and three of our five group members told us they would not be coming because of the rain. It made me sad not to be able to say goodbye to more of them and to not have a very productive last meeting. With only two members, we spent some time talking about how the group was going for them and what they would like from the group. We then went and got a gelato with them. They seemed to appreciate this. Despite the unsurprising difficulties of getting a group up and running, it seems like MEDU will continue using group therapy as a helpful modality for immigrants, and I really believe that group will be extremely effective for MEDU in the future.
On Tuesday night Heather, Hannah, and I went to dinner with all of the volunteers and staff of the MEDU camper, which included about 45 people. The entire restaurant was reserved for MEDU, and we had a delicious Ethiopian/Eritrean meal. It was fun to feel the energy of this group of amazing people, and we had a great time with them.
Wednesday night I went out for a final time with the MEDU Camper to the Baobab Camp near the Tiburtina Train Station. For those who read the LDS Church News, you may have seen the cover article ('Maybe we can help': A look into LDS Charities' efforts to ease the pain of refugees in Rome) of the May 11, 2018 edition that talks about MEDU working in this camp. By chance, when we arrived at the camp, there as a group of LDS singles, two sets of senior missionaries (including the missionaries we met at the LDS Institute), and some other leaders there to deliver food for the immigrants, which they do about once a month. It was fun to see them there.
As usual, it didn't seem like a good idea to be snapping pictures, but here are a couple I took. The first shows the inside of the camper with Mulu (in the white shirt) and Anita (in the green shirt), both of whom are mentioned in the Church News article. The second is a poor picture of the camp, which is actually much more vast than my picture shows.
There are 100s of tents, with different "neighborhoods" of people from the same country living nearby each other. The doctor met with 13 people that night, and though it definitely feels like a drop in the bucket of needs, it was, once again, inspiring to watch these caring people work. Though most of the immigrants in this camp are in their 20s, there are also many in this camp who are very young (15-18 years old).
Today (Thursday) I spent a typical day at MEDU, but during their regular weekly meeting they had me take considerable time talking about my observations of and recommendations for the group we have been running. It felt good to be able to help spur them to try using groups, as they have been thinking about it for some time. It seems like they have the confidence that they can effectively lead groups and that groups will be helpful to their patients.
As I said above, I'm very sad to leave, and I wish I could continue working with MEDU for the next three months. It has been an extremely rewarding experience!
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