Service Journal 1

Chinese Mutual Aid Association

Student Name

January 28th 2018

 Modern societies have evolved in an extremely bohemian fashion into multicultural and

diverse spheres where people from different cultures, religion and schools of thought come

together. Although such multicultural spheres hone themselves into an extended family like

framework where each individual lends their expertise to make the adjustment process of

significant others as smooth as possible, there are still underlying difficulties and hardships that

are experienced nonetheless. Having my ties to the Chinese culture and language made my

integration into a society that’s completely opposite to what I was brought up an extremely

difficult process that took time and compromises.

To assist my fellow members of the society who look forward to settling in this new

environment, I consider this my duty to make sure they feel less of a cultural shock than I did as

helping others has been instilled in me by my culture and values. To spearhead my agenda, I

have decided to work for the Chinese Mutual Aid Association. This organization serves low-

income immigrants and refugees and is meant to provide these individuals with a sense of

community and help them integrate into the multiethnic society of Chicago. We work for the

integration of these individuals into western circles and provide them certain directives regarding

how to transition from their old cultures into a more diverse environment as gradually and easily

as possible.

I mostly enjoy working with young kids, as I believe they are the most vulnerable when

exposed to a new culture and thus many of them struggle to fit in. Thus, over the course of my

association with the CMAA, I worked in their youth programs that help children with after-

school studies. Not only did we help these children complete their homework, we also became

involved in helping them settle down in their new communities and provide them guidance and

counseling services.
 With a global network of acclaimed and renowned universities and the gradual increase

in overall standards of higher education, more students feel their time is nigh to step outside the

comfort of their little cultural and social cocoons to experience a world and contribute to it in any

which way their expertise dictate. If you don’t interact with peoples from different cultures and

communities, you cannot understand how they think or feel and also shut you off from a world of

new experiences and emotions. Working with the CMAA helps me interact with people from

different ethnicities and understand their problems and cultures in a more effective manner.

Considering my own predicament when I started out originally as a student, I feel that it

is the initial stages, when an individual starts out their new journey that feelings of vulnerability

and helplessness strike the worst. Many of these individuals are young adults who leave their

extremely close families and intertwining cultures behind, they miss their families and are

extremely homesick.

Sometimes due to this overload of emotions, they are unable to actively pursue anything

be it in their academic or personal life and are stuck in limbo expecting help, deeply regretting

their decision of stepping out of their homes in the first place. We at the CMAA try to act as their

safety net, we help them realize their ambitions and help them get through any phase in which

they may be feeling alienated or ostracized by the society by providing them with a sense of

community.

In the CMAA after-school program, the individuals get help with their studies and

homework and are given constructive tutoring that will hopefully enable them to excel in their

academic life. The lectures I prepared for these sessions were meant to help construct a

formidable foundation on which they can base their later studies upon and be self-reliant in the

future for their basic academic needs as well.

 In our readings we studied about doing something worthwhile that helps individuals from

alternate and ambiguous walks of life to integrate themselves into a global market and

environment where they can readily contribute their expertise and services to make the world a

better place overall. This rich environment that is more of a fusion of cultures thrives on inter-

personal relations and interactions; two factors that are often not stressed upon enough causing

gray spaces in human interaction patterns that cause problems for individuals be it in confidence

or physical perspectives.

Chinese Mutual Aid Association does exactly this, and since its basic framework is

entirely derived from the blueprints of forums that thrive on cultural fuses through interaction

and conversation. I believe that our participants make the most out of this by sharing their

problems; this will help us achieve more constructive responses which will help them in the long

run.

As a further response to the readings that form the basis of our opinion and strategy

derivation processes, I believe that enhanced integrations of advanced teaching methods and

techniques, shared by our instructors and professors will benefit the target audience even more so

as it is their valuable experience that will further the project’s scope and variety of niches it will

inevitably cater to.

I hope that my work with the CMAA after-school program was as helpful as I expect it to

be for as many individuals as possible. I am however always open to constructive arguments

both for and against my work and will always take on board any opinion or advice that I feel

genuinely help me facilitate my students better.