Omar Zahra

Professor Andrew

SJI Final Reflection

April 30, 2020

My Year as an Intern at Misericordia

Looking back at the decisions I made in life I could have never imagined becoming a

Social Justice Intern. My year has been quite adventurous, and I am glad for all of the

experiences I had been exposed to. When I first started, I understood social justice as a standard

of life that should be equal for everyone regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, class, etc. One year

later after completing the program my definition of social justice has expanded to include

community development, intersectionality, privilege, identity, and much more.

I was assigned to intern at Misericordia, a local Catholic organization for mentally and

physically impaired persons. As a Muslim I was not sure how interning at this place was going to

change me. It turned out that Misericordia changed me for the better and helped me develop my

sense of character. I learned about the importance of an individual within a community.

Misericordia is a large campus that is home to hundreds of people. Nevertheless, my position

within the Fitness and Pool Center allowed me to come into contact with many of the residents.

Every resident had a unique backstory and reason as to why they were at Misericordia. My day

would always start with a beautiful greeting from one of the residents at the door.

When I first started, I thought it was going to be my job to help this community and to try

to fix things. However, I was mistaken when I thought that this community needed me. My role

in this community was to listen to and understand the residents who are living at Misericordia. I
quickly started to address their needs and tried to get to know the residents on a deeper level. I

would see the same residents on a weekly basis which helped with the relationship building. By

the end of the year the residents had gotten to know me as much as I had learned about them.

One of the key pillars to social justice is caring for others. I discovered that by attending to

others and putting their needs above my own, I was able to make a difference.

One of the things I was able to do was to assist the residents on the machines. Every

resident has different capabilities when it comes to life. Some were able to walk on their own

while others needed assistance. Nevertheless, all of the residents who came to the Fitness Center

wanted to be there. I understood the importance of never judging a book by its cover. Just

because a certain community seems to be struggling it does not mean that they are. My definition

of struggling may be different than someone else’s. I strove to work with every resident to get

them what they wanted.

I was privileged to go to Loyola University Chicago and I only started to realize that

when I was exposed to the community around me. Misericordia was just one of the assets in

community development that needed to be tapped into. Within my fortunate state I was able to

see the connections between Misericordia, Loyola, the surrounding community members, and the

businesses that surrounded me. My role within this community was to step out of my comfort

zone and to ask the difficult questions. I had to ask what Rogers Park was missing in terms of

equality of opportunity for businesses. I needed to understand why there were homeless people

on the streets near Rogers Park when Loyola was right down the corner. My role was to

understand how I can be an asset to this community.

Throughout the course I was introduced to intersectionality which is the connection of

multiple aspects of social characterizations, these include race, class, gender and many others.
Through an awareness of intersectionality, we can better acknowledge and support the

differences amongst us. At a superficial level it may seem that Loyola is a majority white and

affluent University. However, there are many other students who make up the student body.

Likewise, at Misericordia, there are many different people who make up this population. I

learned that only through the support of one another can the differences amongst each

community member be seen. Once I started to recognize the differences between the residents, I

was able to better organize myself in helping.

One example was with the “Sit and Be Fit” program where I was in charge of interacting

with resident by either playing bowling, bingo, catch, etc. The first few days were tough because

I did not know any of the residents and I could not understand if they actually enjoyed what I

was doing. It was not until I stepped out of my comfort zone and asked the staff members for

help. I would never forget what one of the staff members told me and they said that this was the

first time that anyone asked for my help. These staff members are a large part of the resident’s

lives and are the ones who they spend most of their time with. With their help the residents

started to enjoy my presence and were able to equate me to one of the staff members. Afterwards

not only was I excited to come to these weekly sessions but so were the residents.

It is important to know when you are wanted and where you can improve. For me this

was in the resident’s lives and whether they wanted me to be a part of it. Each and every resident

had a different response rate and to me it felt like the domino effect. Knocking down the first

domino is always the hardest. It felt as though there were a huge wall protecting the domino and

once, I was able to break through this wall the rest came falling down. I knew that there was a

difference in power dynamics with me above the residents. One way I was able to break this
difference was to relate to the residents. It was only through shared experiences and emotions

that friendships and bonds can be formed.

Another important aspect of the social justice internship were the other interns. During

the very first class I was not sure how the others were feeling about their internship. I felt like I

was the only one who was going through a hard time and was not adjusting quick enough. After

sharing our experiences, I realized that everyone else was feeling the same way and I was not

alone. Social justice is reliant upon participation both within the community and the individual.

With a shared experience between the interns, I was able to build off of everyone else’s

understanding of what to do better. The sooner I realized that I was not perfect the sooner I was

able to work on my flaws. Working at Misericordia was not going to be an exception for me to

not succeed.

I learned that I had to voice myself amongst others if I wanted to be heard. I was working

with a team that has been doing the same thing for a number of years. It can be very easy to fall

into the trap of repetition and to miss the chances of improvement. When I offered one of my

staff members an alternative to the routine of working out, I was greeted with open hands. I was

really excited to know that my ideas were welcomed and could be implemented within the

community. The other staff members were not meant to stand in my way but were there to help

me succeed.

My overall experiences as an intern have been quite beneficial. The course has taught me

that “ A leadership model that is personal and authentic enables leaders to ….[encourage]

colleagues to both become their best and to achieve the excellence required to excel ( Caldwell,

Love, Forgiveness, and Trust pg.98). When I am a leader, I am able to bring out the best

characteristics amongst my colleagues. I was one person along with a team of other caring and
charismatic individuals. Being my authentic self and showcasing my unique characters is how I

will benefit my team. I understood the importance of my role in the leadership dynamics and

how I fit within the community.

An Additional aspect was the idea that “No social system lasts forever, and this fact

holds especially for oppressive systems of privilege” (Johnson, Privilege, pg. 130). Oppression is

common within a community and it may not be so evident at first. It was only until I had gone

for a few weeks at Misericordia that I started to notice a slight form of oppression. This was in

the current system set in place for the workout machines. The daily logs had assumed that most

of the residents were not able to operate on the machines and those who were had to be under

strict guidelines. However, it was evident that many of the residents have evolved over time and

have become capable to utilize the machines.

When I was introduced to asset-based community development I had learned the

importance of everyone within the community. This included institutions, associations,

individuals, physical spaces, and the economy. In order “ to see a more humane society we need

a much greater level of involvement across economic lines, racial lines, every line that divides

us” ( Loeb, Soul of A Citizen pg. 266). It was only through the connections that are formed across

these different levels that the community can benefit. I began to explore the assets that

surrounded Misericordia and saw the intertwining connections. There were numerous volunteers

who were the parents of the residents at Misericordia. They were critical to the community

because of their relationship to the residents. With the help of the volunteers I was able to better

understand the situations of the residents and how their lives can be improved. Furthermore, with

a more humane society I had to step out of my comfort zone and had to work with these different

assets to bring about change.

 Lastly early on the semester I remembered the readings of Palmer on change and he said

that “We will teach them instead how to stay close to emotions that can generate energy for

institutional change, which may help everyone survive” (Palmer, Change pg.4). What this meant

to me was that emotions are not something that we should bottle up and save for a rainy day.

Instead we are to use our emotions to bring about the change that we want to see. I grasped the

gratitude of knowing when and how to utilize my emotions throughout my internship. During my

“Sit and Be Fit” sessions I had to always showcase a positive attitude. This assisted in lightening

up the mood in the room and allowed the residents feel comfortable.

In conclusion this course and my internship experiences have taught me valuable lessons

that I will carry on with me for years to come. First, I learned the importance of patience and

knowing when to speak up. Second, I learned the value of privilege and how to utilize this

opportunity to better the lives of others. Lastly, I learned the significance of a community and

how there are many branches to a society and at the root are the individuals and their unique

difference. One piece of advice I would have given myself when I first started this internship

would have been to not be afraid of putting myself out there. I am not going to learn anything

without being able to step into the water. Voicing myself and making mistakes are the only ways

that I am going to become a better person. The true purpose behind the social justice internship is

the development of a person’s character and forming their ability to understand one’s role within

social justice.
Citations

Palmer, P. J. (2007). A New Professional: The Aims of Education Revisited. Change: The

Magazine of Higher Learning, 39(6), 6–13. doi: 10.3200/chng.39.6.6-13

Loeb, P. R. (2010). Soul of a citizen: living with conviction in challenging times. New York: St.

Martins Griffin.

Caldwell, Cam, and Rolf D. Dixon. “Love, Forgiveness, and Trust: Critical Values of the

Modern Leader.” Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 93, no. 1, 2009, pp. 91–101.,

doi:10.1007/s10551-009-0184-z.

Johnson, Allan. “Privilege, Power, Difference, and Us.” Privilege, 2018, pp. 69–78.,

doi:10.4324/9780429494802-12.