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Houda Ajrouche

Honors Sociology Brewster

19 March 2017

Service Learning Journal #1

In the last few weeks, I began volunteering at a social care humanitarian organization that

is located within the city of Dearborn, with founding roots in Iraq. Prior to volunteering at the

Al-Ayn Social Care Foundation, I had heard about this organization from an Islamic conference

that I attended before the semester started. When I first arrived at the organization, I met the

receptionist at the front desk, and was told about the background of the organization and what

the mission yearned to accomplish. The receptionist had told me that the goal is to sponsor and

help fundraise money to aid in meeting the needs of the orphans in Iraq. When she told me this, I

was quite interested in the work that was being done, because I felt like I could help make a

difference, which affected a persons life for the better. Although this was the case, I was quite

shocked at the number of orphans documented, which were around 40, 850 orphans with more

than three-fourths sponsored by the organization. This was news that made me have many mixed

emotions. I learned that many of these orphans were victims from terrorist attacks resulting from

acts of terror, along with the orphans who were dying from other causes as well, which had made

me very sad. I wondered why there was so much corruption and why there were so many

orphans or poor in the world and if there was any way to fix the solution? Perhaps one reason

why there are so many orphans, might be due to the war-torn nature of the country and rising

death toll in families, which are forcing these children into the life of an orphan.
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After getting a feel for the organization, I was then shown what my job would be while

volunteering at the organization. The volunteer representative had explained that I would be

counting money from boxes that were used to donate to fundraise for the orphans. I was told to

then document this information as I went along. While doing this, I was given training, and was

told that I would be recorded while dealing with the money to ensure volunteering was done and

money was counted. It felt strange to be on camera, but the organization had many strict

procedural rules to follow to ensure that no money was taken or stolen. The female worker also

explained that the camera recordings would be used to ensure money was counted correctly, and

have visual proof to who was counting it in case of accusations toward stealing or incorrectly

counting the money. This made me slightly nervous to be handling money because of the strict

measures that were at play. Although that was the case, I continued, and was actually very

excited to start.

On the first few days I counted about 14 boxes filled with money. While counting, I was

told to document any foreign currency, which would later be transferred to our currency before it

was checked and recounted 2 more times by the other workers at the organization. I didnt really

understand why the money was recounted after I counted it, but just went along with the flow of

everything. Overall, the hours passed quickly, and my jump-start nervousness manifested into

excitement and joy as I looked forward to the days to come while volunteering at the

organization.

Overall, I really enjoyed my first few days of volunteering. With that said, I was also able

to create an association and link the area I volunteered at to what we were learning in sociology.

Starting out with learning about the mission of the organization, I linked it back to the article on

The Sociological Imagination by C. Wright Mills. Starting out with the idea of defining the
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border between personal problems and public issues, this organization has defined a public

issue that is affecting a great deal of people in Iraq. With the death toll only increasing, the rate

of children becoming orphans is also increasing. Because this is affecting a large amount of

people with more than 40, 850 orphans, this can be considered a public issue. According to

Mills, we need to look at these issues from a sociological perspective, which is at the highest

peak of awareness that a person can obtain, and use this along with its interplay between

biography and history to solve the issue at hand. Relating to this, although this organization can

be sought out as a form of agency that is targeting a structural issue, we need to look more at the

political and economic issues that effect this core issue that the organization so yearns to fix.

Looking at the economic issues and political issues might involve looking at the social dynamics,

poor economy, and terrorism existent to see where the problem is coming from and what we can

do to fix it; I believe focusing on this will allow us to create another solution, which will thus end

the increasing death toll and orphans being taken in as time progresses.

Additionally, while counting the money at this organization, I had stated previously that I

was recorded to ensure that no money was stolen by the volunteers or otherwise. Looking back at

this, it reminds me of the culture lecture we discussed in class, along with the Culture of Fear

article that we were told to read at home. In this article, Barry Glassner looks at why

Americans tend to fear the wrong things due to what the media tends to feed to us. The media is

something that many individuals watch, and because its emphasis and culture of fear we have,

we tend to ignore the more serious problems that give rise to the biggest issues. With that said,

the strict measures taken reflects this culture of fear. Why else would the workers at the

organization tape and record volunteers counting the money? This would be the only reason to

explain the cautiousness and extra measures given at the organization to prevent theft at the
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organization, which is very rare. To add to this, after a volunteer application process, where I got

an interview, background check, and filled out an application, I wondered why there was still this

fear and lack of trust, making it something that was stemming from the culture. Overall,

Glassner adds in a quote that was stated by President Richard Nixon that focused on the idea

that people usually react to fear or out of fear. Ultimately, we can see that this is a fear that

allows for strict measures, and was something I was able to learn while volunteering at the

organization.
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Houda Ajrouche

Honors Sociology Brewster

9 April 2017

Service Learning Journal #2: Al- Ayn Foundation

Following that week, I arrived back at the Al- Ayn Foundation to continue my

volunteering at the organization. For the next two or three times that I volunteered, I alternated

between jobs that were assigned to me. Some days, I would count the boxes and the money that

were comprised within them, and documented what I needed to do. Other times, I would assign

money boxes to the areas that they were supposed to go.

Today, I did both jobs. For the first half of the day I counted the money that was within

each box and did any documentation that I needed to do. I loved counting the money in the

boxes, and after the first few times had gotten the hang of doing so quite quickly. It was

repetitive but extensive, and had my mind turning by the end of the day. Nonetheless, it still

brought me joy knowing that it was going to a good cause. While counting the money within the

boxes and assigning them to their correct destination, I began conversing with another volunteer

who told me about her life. It was the first time, I had ever met her. Apparently, there were new

rules that were placed at the organization that allowed money to be counted only when there

were two volunteers counting the money, with recording being played. I still didnt understand

why this was the case and asked. The female worker just shrugged and explained that it was a

new rule that we had to follow. Perhaps it was just meant to ensure correct counting was made as

we went along, so I carried on and followed as I was told.

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While volunteering, the other volunteer told me about her life, her goals, and schooling.

She explained that she was divorced and worked, but was frustrated with the pay differences

between her and her male coworkers. She felt that it was unfair that there were pay differences,

to which I agreed. Why should a womens pay be less than that of a man, just because of her

biological differences? Well, I think it is because our society emphasizes this essence of male

superiority and gender as an institution. As the first half of the day went by, we counted

money and talked about our lives and future aspirations. I enjoyed my day, and had a lot of fun

doing this with someone else, instead of doing it alone.

After that, the female worker came in and told me that I was going to do something very

different. For the second half of the day, and next day that followed, I was shown how to

document, record, and assign boxes to differing businesses and homes. With that said, I was told

to put the given boxes, which ranged around 20-30 boxes within a bigger delivery box. This

would then be taken on a route to be delivered to the given individuals and businesses. It

reminded me of a process or cycle. Boxes would be recorded, delivered to their destination,

picked up when ready, and the cycle would be repeated. Overall, I found that quite interesting, in

terms of the way this organization carried out its responsibilities the way they did, and I

wondered why they had a set of rules for everything. Perhaps it was to allow for a quick and easy

way to do things and ensure that everything is documented and ready go, when needed to be

delivered or picked up and counted.

Looking back at the last few days of volunteering, I can confirm that I was able to make

connections between the organization that I volunteered at, and what I was learning through the

readings and lecture. Starting out with the female volunteer that expressed her frustrations on

differences in pay on basis of sex, I can draw what we learned from the lecture on Culture.
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During this lecture, Professor Brewster explained that culture was a shared means of thinking,

comprehending, and feeling within a given social group. Within that is the subculture which

includes a certain set of values, beliefs, and ways of living that stem from the culture itself. Over

the course of the lecture, Professor Brewster had us list some words of degradation between

the women and men. To my surprise, it had come to my realization that most of the male

degradative words had focused on degrading them by calling them more feminine and calling

them women. To add to this, when referring to women, we degraded them by attacking their

sexuality. Relating this back, this exposes our societys emphasis on masculinity, which put men

at a higher standpoint in compared to women. To me, it made me feel a bit annoyed due to the

idea that our society places such an emphasis on the man rather than the women. This is also

shown in our language, when we reference a group of people as guys. The essence of gender is

socially constructed and imbedded so far within our language that we dont even realize the

affects it is taken on our language, which is something I find particularly disturbing. What

worries me even more is the idea that it is so sown in our culture, that we dont find this to be a

problem, which makes solving the issue of the gender gap much more difficult. Because of this,

we can observe the differences in pay between the man and the women, due to the idea of being

held at different standards according to what our culture seems to value, which is something I

discussed with the female volunteer while counting the money.

Another connection I can make is in the article, Night to His Day. As stated previously,

we are already aware of the differences existent between the pay differences that women face in

comparison to the men, which is something that the female volunteer expressed in her

frustrations. When she mentioned this, I questioned why or what led our society to do this, and

how a persons gender and biological orientation took such an emphasis on the way we were
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treated as ladies. In the article, by Judith Lorbrer, we are exposed to this idea that gender is an

institution. Quite frankly, it is. Lorbrer explains that gender similar is to culture, in that it

involves a set of groups, practices, and behaviors. It is something that organizes our lives, and is

socially constructed in its nature from the moment we were born. Lorbrer shows this by giving

the example that gender status is placed through naming, and our dress, and other markers that

define who we are in our orientation.

Ultimately, Gender is an institution because it organizes people into categories, and areas

of work. Adding on, this can explain why women have that gap in pay compared to the man. To

add to this, Lorbrer brings up the idea about how these gender markers are imbedded within our

language, which is something I explained in the paragraph prior to this. Overall, it was brought

to my attention while discussing this with the volunteer that I worked with, who expressed her

concerns and frustrations towards differences in pay.

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Houda Ajrouche

Honors Sociology Brewster

15 April 2017

Service Learning Journal #3

Today, I continued my volunteering at the Al-Ayn Social Care organization. I was

particularly excited to volunteer today because the female worker told me that I would be doing

something art related. Growing up, art was always something that I loved doing on the side. To

add to this, it was something that I was minoring in. When the worker told me this, I could barely

contain my excitement, and rushed that day to begin volunteering at the organization. To be

honest, prior to volunteering at the organization, I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I thought

I would enjoy it. With that said, I had come to realize that doing something that that benefits an

individual at an organization can be fun, and not boring. When I arrived at the organization, I

was told that I would be framing, and hanging artworks done by the orphans in Iraq. I would then

have to come up with a design for the series of frames and hang them on the wall.

I spent the first few hours that day trying to draft a design that would look professional,

yet express my artistic ability on the given wall. Today, I was working alone. My only tools were

frames, the artworks, some measuring tape, and pencil. After a lot of thought and going back and

forth, I was able to come up with a unique set up of the 11 frames on the wall. After coming up

with the design, I then showed the CEO of the organization. When he approved the design, I

began working towards hanging up the frames.

Before I could start, the female worker informed me that I had to attach a caption on the

bottom part of some artworks. Apparently, they were responses and analyses of each artwork,

which were psychoanalyzed based on each artwork that the orphans created. I attached these
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captions to the artworks and returned to framing each artwork. The whole process took two days

of volunteering for three hours a day. Perhaps it took very long because I was framing them

alone.

After completing the project, I stepped back and looked at the outcome of my work. I

spent time looking at the captions and was quite interested at what I read. The psychological and

sociological aspect appealed to me because I loved psychology and sociology due to me being a

psychology major. Some of the psychologists analyzed the artworks. At first glance, another

person would just look at the artwork and see a series of landscapes. Others would see pictures of

a mother and father drawn, and think nothing of it. This wasnt the case. Sure, the children did do

this, but a psychologist had to look at the underlying aspects of the work. Apparently, it even

came down to the way the child drew something, its expression, and even where things were

drawn. I was quite interested at this, and shocked. I had heard it done with art therapists, but had

never actually read a diagnosis or looked at the meaning of an artwork until today.

Adding on, some of them read the changed perspectives the orphans had on life and an

essence of hope instilled in the child. Others expressed a negative outlook on basis of the artwork

and its counterparts. Overall, I was quite interested in how art and psychology tied together.

Does a childs artwork really express their personality and state of mind? Also, could a persons

socialization be expressed through this as well? Perhaps, their expression of the work, would

allow for an exposure of what the child is going through, which made me extremely interested to

read them.

Overall, in participating in these volunteering opportunities I was able to link it back to

the sociological aspect that we learned in class. This includes linking back to the lecture on

socialization. Also, linking it back to the chapter on socialization on Pearson, which discussed
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institutionalized children and orphans. At the start of the lecture, Professor Brewster starts

out by defining socialization as process, which is life long and allows us to develop our

potential and learn the culture that surrounds us. Brewster explained that everyone goes through

socialization, and that it is something that is really imbedded within the individual. One example

where we can see socialization at hand is found in the Pearson Textbook on the Unit of

Socialization, where institutionalized children are discussed. Looking back, over the course

of my last two days of volunteering at the organization, I stated that the children had their

artworks psychoanalyzed to see their psychological state of mind. This, though, can also be

looked at when looking from a social perspective as well. The book explains how a childs

psychological and cognitive performance can be affected by their socialization. Adding on, this

means that the way, in which the child is treated is going to have a big effect

on the way, the child will carry out their daily life in adulthood. This is expressed in the

orphanage experiment done in the 1930s, which studied the effects that orphanages had on the

orphan based on their social interactions they had with others and their treatment at a young age.

It was concluded that the sociological aspect played a very big part on the way the child

perceived themselves and the world around them, which thus reflected many other parts of the

childs behavior and performance. In addition, this is shown in the psychoanalyzed drawings of

the children.

Another link that can be made is back to Meads Theory of Self and Cooley and the

Looking-Glass Self, which is discussed in the PowerPoint on Socialization. Looking back at

the artworks that the children made, I could see a childs expression of their sense of self and

predict a probable theory to what was going in their mind at the time it was drawn, but how does

the self-develop? Mead explains that the self develops because of society, which leads to the
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creation of mind, which creates the sense of self. To add to this, this all results from language

acquisition, which allows for the movement up from one stage to the next on self-development.

It is society that makes us who we are. Adding on, it is also society that makes the orphans who

they are and how they see themselves with regards to their socialization and self. This can be

explained when looking at Cooley and the Looking-Glass Self. Cooley states that there are

three parts to the development of the self. This includes, looking at how a person appears to

others, their reaction to a persons appearance, and how a person perceives themselves based on

how that person feels others will see them. To add to this, Cooley explained that a persons

development came from social interactions. Relating this back to the orphanage experiment that I

discussed above, it can be concluded that these orphans development of the self will be based on

their social interactions with others. Overall, with that said, the social interactions will then allow

for a reflection of the development of their self and mind, which can be reflected through their

behavior; one being what they draw and paint.

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Houda Ajrouche

Honors Sociology Brewster

16 April 2017

Service Learning Journal #4

On the final two days that I volunteered, I chose to volunteer at a different non-profit

organization known as Al Mabbarrat. Its a nonprofit organization that yearns to support, nurture,

and educate orphans. It is an organization that has a branch located in the city of Dearborn, and

helps orphanages in Lebanon, Iraq, and other countries that are in poverty. Their mission

surrounds around giving opportunity to the orphans and aiding in allowing them to attain good

and sustainable positons within their given communities and societies. I had first heard about this

organization from my mothers friend, who worked at the organization. She told me about their

mission, and I yearned to try out another non-profit organization that helped orphans to see if

there were any differences between Al-Ayn and Al Mabbarrat. To my surprise, they were very

similar, but had some differences in where these organizations targeted to help the orphans.

When I first arrived at the organization, I was greeted by the front receptionist. She was

very welcoming, and told me to sit down. I was informed that I would be making these money

boxes for the fundraising. I didnt think it was a problem, but at the same time, didnt know what

I was getting myself into. Literally. Sitting, I saw the receptionist walk about with a huge box of

approximately 200 sheets of thick cardboard, the organization logo, tape, and all the necessary

materials to create this box. At first glance, I didnt think it was much, but quickly got

overwhelmed at the pile given to me, because they took longer than I thought it would. The

receptionist laughed at me not being able to carry the cardboard. She first showed me how to set

up and fold the cardboard. What followed was then the placing of the logo on the papers, in a
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design that made it look like the Islamic house of god known as the Kaaba. The whole process

took me about a total of 10 hours working on the creation of the boxes. Even then, I didnt finish

the whole two-hundred or so boxes because they were so time consuming.

By the end of the box making, I was kind of glad that I was finished, because it was

mentally and physically draining. I brought a friend with me to help me with the boxes, as I

made and organized them. As we did this, I realized that this organization was much more laid

back in comparison to the previous area that I volunteered at. It was perhaps due to the requests

of the founder or someone higher in power of the organization to instill a system to everything

and open doors to efficiency. While making the boxes, we talked about the orphans living in

orphanages, and the effects it may have on their growth and socialization, being considered an

institutionalized child. It hurt knowing that there were so many children who had no family, and

lived off the streets. Overall, in my opinion, I believe that one way to solve this issue may be to

first define the problem and target its root cause that may be the means to the end of the issue.

As I was making the boxes, I overheard a conversation between a new volunteer and the

receptionist. The boy looked about around his teenage years, and was asking about why there

were so many orphans existent in Iraq and other poor countries, and why there was so much

terrorism and killing in the country. I was guessing that the war-torn nature of the country had

resulted in the killing of families leading the kids into a life of being an orphan. In addition, it

may be due the country itself being poor. I went to Iraq a year ago to visit a few shrines with my

family, and had come to the realization that there were many poor people, and that it was a

country that didnt have much. Altogether, it was a very humbling experience.
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Ultimately, looking back at this volunteer experience, I did have some difficulty in trying

to link it to what I learned in class. After giving it some thought, I could make a connection to a

few things that we learned in class. Referring to the beginning of class on the Introduction to

Sociology Unit, the PowerPoint brings up the different types of suicide, and killing. Relating to

this, while volunteering, the young male volunteer had been curious as to why so many people

were killed in places like Iraq with these terrorist attacks. After giving it some thought, it

reminded me of the altruistic suicide that is discussed in the PowerPoint. According to what

Professor Brewster discussed in class, Altruistic Suicide happens when there is very high

levels of social integration and high regulation, which causes the life of an individual to be in the

hands of society and put them to an end at any moment. This can be sought out when looking at

a suicide bomber, who will sacrifice his life, and render all the people around him lifeless

because of the decision he makes to take his life. This is an example of what may be sought out

in the war-torn country of Iraq, where families are killed, and death tolls only increase in some

areas. This then led to the question on why these killers and terrorists thought they could do

whatever they wanted? After thinking about it, I realized that situational determinants and

social situations can be the reason to this, which is discussed in the article by Zimbardo. In the

article on, A Situationist Perspective on the Psychology of Evil, Zimbardo states that terrorism

and terrorists can be created because of this imbedding of psychological and social views, along

with long term planning towards changes in attitudes and behaviors which influence this war on

terrorism, which Zimbardo explains can never be won. Quite frankly, I agree, but still think we

should try to fight this war on terrorism. Overall, this teenage boys concerns allowed for a

connection to be made to an article that I read throughout the course of the class.