This past Saturday afternoon, December 1, I was able to contribute to a project for my service event that I am so proud to have played a role in. I went to the Columbus Global Academy with a number of other IA scholars to help paint the Tree of Hope Mural. I mainly worked on painting the sky on the right wall and painting the brown branch and maroon leaves near the library entrance. Throughout the afternoon, I got to meet some of the first years and bond over TV shows from our childhoods like Victorious. An aspect of the mural I really liked in particular was painting the word “library” in the different languages that are present the refugee/immigrant population community in Columbus. This included Spanish, Arabic, Vietnamese, and Tigrinya. Seeing Eritrea represented with Tigrinya on the wall with “bet metsafty” (literally meaning “house of books”) brought a swell of pride to my heart (but also made me realize how much I’ve forgotten to read/write the language…yikes). I find having the word in all these different languages beautiful and I think it serves as a wonderful testament to how universally important it is to make sure children have education integrated into their lives.
Being involved with the Center of Refugee and Immigration Services, or CRIS, has been something I have been extremely interested in. I know a lot of my IA peers are mentors and although I wanted to also be one, I wasn’t able to sign up to be one because of other commitments. To be able to have other opportunities to be involved with CRIS is something that brings me profound happiness. As a person who is a child of two immigrants, I am extremely thankful for all of the opportunities I have had growing up because I know that this isn’t always the case for many with backgrounds similar to my own. I plan to have my IA/STEP project revolve around helping and supporting this community by providing piano lessons to refugees for a multitude of reasons. Just like education, I think music is a powerful tool one can use and I think it would be a shame for any child (or anyone, really) with a genuine interest in learning how to play an instrument to have to miss out on the opportunity because the circumstances they grew up in prevented them from doing so. I’d like to expand my interactions to the parts of Columbus that I’m not as familiar with and I feel this community is one I feel that strongly resonates with me. Next semester, I will be working on how I can set this project up so when I inaugurate it in the summer, I can make sure that not only I can get an insightful and beneficial experience that I can carry with me to my other lifelong endeavors but those who I will work with can as well. I’m truly looking forward to the next opportunity that IA gets to collab with CRIS!
I’d like to give a personal shoutout to my friend, Natalie Majidzadeh, for leading this amazing project!
