Greetings from Dakar,
I have quickly realized that my favorite experience here is and will continue to be my internship at P.A.R.I. For those of you who did not read my first blog, P.A.R.I is a non-profit organization that helps immigrants and refugees gain access to healthcare, housing, micro-loans, and more. Most refugees have fled the Gambia because they get killed for their sexual orientation.
Upon arriving on my first day I felt very nervous. Looking around I realized that P.A.R.I was a Catholic organization that worked closely with the Vatican. I felt they might judge me for not practicing despite being baptized catholic. When we began the day by sitting down to prayer I panicked. I did not even know the prayers in English, much less in French!
Was I supposed to pretend to pray? Close my eyes? Oh my God I do not even know how to do the sign of the Cross. Jesus, I just said the Lord’s name in vain. Help.
So yeah, I was freaking a little. I had no need though. After they were done, they thanked us for joining in and went around asking our faiths. As the other interns listed their various religions I realized we were a very diverse group of people. My bosses were not bothered by our differing beliefs. In fact, they were curious and asked many questions.
This made me comfortable to ask questions of my own and I wondered out loud about the relationship between Muslims and Catholics in Dakar. About 90% of the population is Muslim while the rest are mostly Catholic. My boss told me that there was quite a harmonious relationship between the two faiths. Couples from both religions were common and a general respect for both religions was the norm. This blew my mind. Coming from the U.S. where people are literally killing each other over faith and where we continue to discriminate and prosecute entire cultures based on religion, one can imagine why this seemed like a foreign concept. I understand that the U.S. is only one of many countries that perpetuate racism and hate, but I can only truly testify to my experiences in places I have been.
Another worry of mine was that I would be just filing paper work. I wanted my internship to be hands on and I got my wish. Besides constantly practicing my language skills, I have sat in on interviews with refugees and accompanied my boss during home visits. It is beyond rewarding seeing people working together for a great cause. The purpose of P.A.R.I. is to give these people the tools to help themselves. We are trying to give them access to basic rights that they deserve like health care. The interns and I have been collaborating and are brainstorming some great ideas to increase donations that will really create efficiency and sustainability after we are gone.
So far, I have learned a tremendous amount about what it means to help someone while maintaining a distance. This distance is important when many of these people’s backgrounds are horrendous. By solely focusing on one person it takes away from others. Basically, we need to know when to draw the line. I have also observed the significance of using differences to unite people. Everyone in the office is a different ethnicity and gender. We all have varying views and we do not always agree with each other, but coming together for one cause allows us to use our differences in talents to create positive change in the community.
My own personal goal is to be able to conduct interviews on my own once I am comfortable enough with my language skills. I am also excited about raising money for P.A.R.I because this will give me a great opportunity to learn more about forming contacts and fundraising on a larger scale.
‘Till next time,
Cami
P.S. In case you are interested in learning about our fundraising efforts or want to contribute any amount—click the link below--!
https://www.gofundme.com/2p57uey4