My reflections of my placement so far are of mixed reviews to say the least. What I do enjoy about my placement are the people that I work with, actually physically being in the neighborhood that I am trying to service, and talking with the residents of the community. Yesterday I went out with a survey team to do door to door canvassing for a community survey that my organization is doing and that was my first time when I got to see first hand the harsh conditions that a lot of Detroit residents are living in and how it affects the structure and mentality of a neighborhood. What I find more challenging about my placement are realizing that we only have 6 weeks left in the program and really starting to wonder if I am going to be able to fully deliver on my project to the level that my supervisor expects and I strive for. Over this last week I have begun to realize that some of the challenges that I am coming up against are not just exclusive to me but rather universal to the non-profit sector as a whole.
It is now week three of this program, day to day it feels like my days are dragging by sitting at a computer doing data entry. However, when I do allow those quiet moments of reflection to make their appearance I realize that I am doing much more than just sitting at a desk drawing and entering data. I am exploring Detroit, becoming acquainted with the story and people of this city and learning about the non-profit sector. Detroit is a city that is slowly growing on me. The more I learn about this city I am realizing that I have more in common with the people here than I initially thought. At the beginning of the summer I committed myself to telling a story of Detroit that has always existed but has not always been told. And what I am realizing is that when I made that commitment, I also committed to telling my story. So stay tuned.
I love hearing about the things you’ve been enjoying in your placement! I can see how being in the community you’re servicing would be helpful considering your nonprofit’s work. I understand it’s frustrating to battle with the concept of control, and I can totally relate on how waiting on other people in your nonprofit to do their job can make you feel impatient. I think finding commonalities between yourself and the current residents in Detroit is so important to figure out the way you fit in in the community, I wrote about that a little bit in my blog post too.