I am a millennial. I am the generation that is accused of laziness while simultaneously being聽praised for innovation and change. At K体育 I am taught to 鈥渕ake a life, make a living, make a
difference.鈥� I never took those words to heart until I moved to Brussels, Belgium, to study for five months.
Little did I think that the building immigration crisis would come full storm four weeks after I聽arrived. Suffering from culture changes, every day Googling the cheapest flights back to Atlanta, and聽struggling with the fact that I was now a minority immigrant myself, was enough to keep me inside,聽watching Belgian Netflix and bemoaning the fact that I had to take public transportation everywhere.
However, on Monday, September 7th, the beginning of my fourth week here, the refugee聽movement from Syria, Iraq, and Morocco hit Belgium.
Every night on the Belgian news, I saw the same聽highly-charged views that I was accustomed to back home. I鈥檓 used to dealing with immigration issues as a聽student of political science, but also as an American. I am used to hearing every night on the news聽Donald Trump鈥檚 stump speech, or a news pundit鈥檚 remarks, but it was not until I was at a cheap kebab聽restaurant that Monday that I knew something was not right. Here I was, this American college student聽whose great grandparents were immigrants, who had technically immigrated to Belgium herself, and聽was eating in the cheapest place she could find, run by immigrants who are trying to survive themselves.聽I realized that being an immigrant is hard, exhausting, and demoralizing. In the States, I could always聽sympathize with the immigration movement from Mexico, but until I moved here, I could never聽empathize with it.
[contextly_sidebar id=”UtDxDiFXMAOkFqyvM8WlZMXyU73FY8kt”]At K体育, we are taught that service to our community and country will not only make us聽leaders, but good stewards to our fellow man. When I heard that a favorite NGO of mine, , was in Brussels helping at the refugee camp in Parc Maximilien, I knew volunteering聽directly with the camp, rather than rallies or protests, was the way to go. I knew that for me to fully give聽back, I had to interact and help on a human level. Thus, on Thursday, September 10th, a day before the聽14th anniversary of 9/11, I went to the cramped and sweltering Brussels Metro, started up Google聽Maps, and and made my way to Parc Maximilien.
That Thursday I spent four hours building about 10 sleeping tents donated by Samsung and Media聽Markt (Best Buy鈥檚 European counterpart) with five other volunteers. While building, I was told not a聽single Belgian government minister or European Union parliament member had visited the camp in the聽week the refugees had been there sleeping in temperatures just above freezing. I soon found out that I聽was the only American volunteer, hence leading to my new nickname 鈥淎merica.鈥� I knew then, after聽working for four hours and refusing water from a refugee, that I had to come back to the camp.
Sore and exhausted from the day before, I took the same 35-minute metro trip to pass out聽clothes. Here I met Abdul, one of the few Iraqis, who spoke broken English. Himself a refugee, displaced聽by ISIS when they destroyed his home, he was here helping pass out worn, donated shoes in the 鈥渟hoe聽shop鈥� instead of playing a pick-up soccer game with his friends. After about one hour of confusing, badly聽translated conversations, he saw I was having a difficult time trying to understand Arabic and that my聽French was not getting me far. He left for five minutes and came back with chocolate milk and a worn聽Live Strong bracelet for me. He said, putting the bracelet from his arm to mine, 鈥淭hank you, America, for聽your help. You are my friend. You are a friend of Iraq.鈥� After about two more hours of passing out聽clothes and Abdul having to break up several fights over broken Nike tennis shoes, we closed the store聽and gave each other a hug. I asked him if we he was going to be in the 鈥渟tore鈥� the next day and he said:聽鈥淣o, I am at school tent all day for English.鈥� He smiled and said “thank you” one more time and walked聽away.
I volunteered with people from a land that my home actively fights against politically and聽militarily. I volunteered with fellow humans who were displaced by violence and have to live in fear聽every day just like the victims of 9/11. In the United States, we see 9/11 as a tragic event that killed聽thousands. However, this is a day were we all need to remember that 9/11 was not just an American聽tragedy, but a global tragedy that is still claiming lives today. The actions of the hijackers put into motion 14 years of violence, destruction, and the acceptance of everyday terror in the Middle East, no聽matter who we blame.
Since I was only six years old in 2001 and I was not able to mourn in the United States this 9/11,聽I thought it would be best to channel my American stewardship and citizenship to help those who could聽not help themselves and whose lives were also destroyed by hatred and greed. Though the acts of ISIS聽are 14 years apart from those of 2001, hatred still exists in this world. Culture, language, stereotypes, and misinformation spread in this world because we allow it, but when love, forgiveness,聽and helpfulness are implemented, it is because we worked for it. America has produced a fine聽generation of millennials that are changing this world, and I am only a single member of it. I believe that聽volunteering with people who are just as desperate as those 14 years earlier, was the right聽millennial and American thing to do.
This is why I volunteered. I volunteered because this is 2015 and this is a borderless world. I聽volunteered because this is a millennial world. Never until this day had I thought of the United States as聽my homeland in the traditional sense. Because I am a large majority there and because I have never聽traveled outside the country or the South, I knew nothing, no matter how useful my degree in聽International Relations was. I am educated, I have a car, I have a house, and I am making a future for聽myself. What need was there to thank a homeland for this? That is, until I realized that my upbringing聽and education gave me the skills to survive here in Belgium and help the refugees.
Everywhere I go, every refugee I speak to, and every time I go to class here, I am representing聽the United States, Georgia, and K体育 University. Knowing this has made me better understand聽what it takes to give back to a community and to represent a homeland. Belgium had taken me in and聽the United States had raised me, and it was time to give back to both. This is why I volunteered on 9/11.
Not only did I become a better American, I became a better human. When I saw Abdul working for the聽very refugee camp that was keeping him alive, I knew that sense of selflessness and gratitude as聽something that would stay with me forever and that I had to bring home to the States.
Thank you, Abdul.
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If you feel the need to donate to an organization, please check out . They are a Non聽Governmental Organization 501(c)(3) based in the U.S. and help children and families get the聽basic necessities of life you and I take for granted every day. If you care to donate items, the refugees love athletic shoes such as NIKE and other brands. The sizes needed range from 9-14 men’s.聽Basic wash items, sleeping tents, and other practical necessities are needed and can be donated at the聽.
