Work Experiences

For the past two years, I have worked at the International Institute of Lowell after school as a Case Manager's Assistance/Translator. For the institute, I provide translation services between Burmese and English to the Case Managers and the clients. The hardest part about my job is that I have to help the Burmese refugees adapt to the new culture, language, employment and laws, which is also hard for them to do because everything is so new to them. Since I work at the International Institute as the only teenager on the team, it is very hard for me to conduct myself accordingly and to deal with many cases that require much thought and consideration. For example having to work with and on behalf of elders is challenging because of the cultural respect that a young person has to have for elders, and yet when I am working with the elders as a team member it is hard for me to say much on any issue. Most of our clients like myself are survivors – survivors from the impossible and the unthinkable situations which forced them to leave their native country and flee to the United States.  Life in America is better but they still struggle to meet basic needs – Food stamps, Mass Health insurance, Welfare, affordable housing, fuel assistance, WOMEN INFANT CHILDREN nutrition benefits. These are some of the specific things that I help our clients apply for. For a teenager as myself, it is very unusual to be concerned about these things, but for me it is my routine of how I help people day after day. It is not uncommon for someone to call me or come to me for help, such as one situation when one of my client's children was sick and he didn't know what to do, so he called me in the middle of the night and I had to get up and go to his house and called 911. The child was taken to a hospital and I followed with the ambulance because the hospital does not have any translators available at that time, and I had to stay at the hospital until 4:00 AM until the child was transported to Boston for further examinations. Those are the kinds of work I do in the United States to help people who had to flee their homes and country in order to survive. And I proud to tell that I have helped some 200 Burmese families in the U.S and I will continue to strive for them..

Picture by: borondy.com