On the drive back, the aforementioned awesome friends + John had to rush me to the hospital in Richmond, VA due to extreme dehydration setting off my bum ticker. After 8 hours, a state of the art heart scan (only available at this hospital in Richmond and Harvard), three bags of fluid and a couple of shots of intravenous sedatives (I'm a nervous wreck), we were back on our merry way.
After spending the next week and a half in bed recovering from the being the sickest I've ever been. It was time for me to face the world.
First stop - Arab American Family Support Center to tutor women immigrants taking the citizenship exam. Still a little shaky from over a week of bed rest, it took me a little longer to get moving that usual which resulted in me being late. I hate being late, a lot. That mixed with the fact that this was my first time volunteering on this project made me really nervous. Before every project begins, the team leader goes through a quick orientation with the newbies. I knew I was missing the orientation. As I rushed from the train to the center thoughts of just turning around and going home flooded my brain. How was I going to know what to do? How could I possibly participate? What if I messed up? Fuck it, do this.
Surprisingly, nothing terrible happened. It actually went really well. Even though I missed the orientation the team leader was able to quickly review the project with me, gave me a packet and set me up with Hafsah from Yemen. Hafsah lives in Bensonhurst with her husband (who became a US Citizen when they first moved to the US) and her 5 sons. She's lived in the same house for 14 years. Her husband owns a grocery store where her older sons work. She is the only one left in her immediate family who is not an American citizen. Hafsah is modern and fashionable - well dressed, wearing make-up, with a leopard print scarf covering her hair. Through long pauses and broken English, she introduced herself.
The naturalization exam is comprised of three components - writing, reading and speaking - so for the next 90 minutes we reviewed a practice test of the written exam, Hafsah practiced writing the answers in English and we did a mock interview like the one she'll have on the day of her exam. Though she knew the answer to almost every question it was clear that she didn't understand the meaning to all the words. Since I don't speak Arabic it was a challenge to explain the translations of things like "separation of power" and "petition the government" but with help from some of the more advanced students in the group and an Arabic-English translation dictionary Hafsah was able to really understand the meaning behind the words she was studying. She had been reviewing this test for months, memorizing all the answers, learning how to read a new language and write with a new alphabet but it took her communicating and connecting with other human beings to make sense of all of her hard work. To see the excitement and pride on her face when the lightbulb went on was absolutely incredible.
This project is very special and amazing - it gives women the opportunity to help empower other women. This is paramount considering that in Hafsah's native Yemen it is estimated that only 64% of all grade school girls are actually enrolled in schooling - of that 64% it is estimated that only 50% will complete the first 6 years of schooling.
I'm signed up for this project again next week and am looking forward to finding out Hafsah's exam date - which she should have found out this week or last. I'm excited to continue to prepare her and other women for the exam, to help them become more confident in their ability to communicate in English and most important to help facilitate what could possibly be the most attention to education these women have ever experienced.
