Open our ears and listen: a profile of Kelly Rand

Fort Worth, TX

4/18/2008

Kelly Rand, a senior social work/religion double major, has crammed her schedule in her last year as an undergraduate before she moves onto graduate school to receive a master's degree in social work.

She is exceedingly active on campus within organizations such as the National Association of Social Work; Heal Hunger, sponsor of Hunger Week; and Chi Delta Mu, a program through the religion department.

Kelly is also fervently working on her senior project in which all social work seniors research and present a topic of their choice. Her particular research topic deals with the effectiveness in training social services staff on VITA and EITC, both programs for financial stability. Senior projects work in conjunction with a field agency internship, in which Kelly’s is through the non-profit organization, Catholic Charities, which provides assistance to people and children in need.

During the summer of 2007, Kelly interned with the Center Survivors of Torture in Dallas through the ExxonMobil Community Summer Jobs Program, a program designed to provide internships to students by providing grants for non-profit agencies to hire interns. While working at the Center for Survivors of Torture, she became conscious of the importance of the organization and its mission. The Center provides financial, psychological, physical and emotional assistance to asylum seekers, or survivors of torture seeking refuge in the United States.

“The Center for Survivors of Torture aims to restore the dignity and humanity to these asylum seekers that has been stripped and stolen from them,” Rand explained.

Like many non-profit organizations, the Center for Survivors of Torture is not familiar to most of the public, Rand said, mainly because of a need for financial assistance and therefore lack of ability to create awareness.

We often hear of disasters around the globe, but never hear of what becomes of the victims when they leave their country of origin, she explained.

While interning at the Center, some of Rand’s projects included working as a greeter to clients, organizing a UN Day, taking intakes and observing counseling sessions, but Rand’s most rewarding and surprising project was going through the immigration process and accompanying a torture victim to court for her citizenship application.

She explained she was amazed to see a woman who had been through so much pain and anguish, would need to justify her wish to stay in the United States. She said she felt disheartened for the woman because she felt the process was much too stringent for these survivors.

Rand’s experience was also filled with the enjoyment in planning events and forming relationships with the clients. “I learned some of these asylum seekers were much more than I had presumed,” Rand said. Some victims had been doctors, lawyers, journalists and teachers in their native countries, but were required to start over once they had to flee.

Although these people had been through so much, their power to stay hopeful was incredible, Rand said. Her educational knowledge blended with such experiences like learning African dance, trying Ethiopian and Egyptian cuisine and encountering differing cultures throughout her time in the position is something she will never forget.

Even though Rand had to move on from the position this year, she was able to gain experience and knowledge, that will take her into her future in graduate school and whatever may lie ahead. One piece of advice Rand wants others to know is, “If we open our ears and listen to others, our world would be better off.”