Proposal
Sport and Medical Sciences Academy
280 Huyshope Avenue
Hartford, CT 06106
Dear Mrs. Boutilier:
For my capstone project, I am aimed at getting involved in the Syrian Refugee Crisis, by helping a refugee family here in the community. In order to achieve my goals of helping refugees, I found one mentor so far who is currently finding a family for me to work with, and I have another mentor in mind as well. I will go wherever the family lives to do my fieldwork, as well as wherever they need to go or what places I can take advantage of to support them through fundraising, donations, etc. For my actual work with them, I would mostly work on teaching English. I have friends who speak Arabic who will help break the language barrier as well as assist me in teaching the family this new language. I also plan on helping the family adjust to American life and get on the track of having a successful future in the country. I will help the kids in the family with any homework they have from school, I will try to get them furniture from donations and also fundraise enough money for them to feel financially stable for a while. The whole reason I want to help Syrian refugees for my capstone is because I feel for them. Although the only thing we directly share is religion, I cannot help but sympathize for all the innocent people who are forced to remain in a war torn country because no one is willing to open their borders for them. Now that Connecticut has allowed refugees in, I do not want to pass up the opportunity to help them.
The research question I have in mind is “what is shaping American’s perspective of immigrants from the Middle East”? This question is related to my Capstone because so many people are opposed to letting Syrian refugees into the country because of “terrorism threats”, etc. Unfortunately, this can make the transition very hard for Syrians who are seeking refuge within the U.S. and also leaves so many innocent people in Syria with no safe place to go. Many people in the country do not agree with my opinion of allowing refugees into the country, and to research the underlying reasons why and how people form their opinions for or against Middle Eastern immigrants would be a very interesting and insightful topic for myself. While I am completing my capstone, as for my “artifacts”, I plan on taking pictures of my work with the family and any work that the family does as well. I imagine being able to take pictures of them practicing and writing English, and even drawings that the children may do. I will also include screenshots of emails and texts with my mentor and others who help me along the way.
The mentor I have chosen is named Anis Ahmed Sheikh. He is a family friend who works at the mosque that I go to. He is helping me find a Syrian family to get connected with and has gotten me connected to other volunteer organizations already. Another person I have in mind to be my mentor is the principal at the Sunday school, who is also from my mosque. I call her Sister Reema, out of respect. She speaks Arabic and has also working with refugees, so I feel like she could greatly help me communicate with the Syrians and break the language barrier. With the help of these two mentors, I think I will successfully be able to complete my capstone. The stretch for my capstone would be to successfully communicate with this Syrian family to find out what they need to adjust themselves to living in the United States. I would also love to teach the family enough English so that they are able to communicate with others independently. By accomplishing my stretch, I think I’d be able to help the family pave their way to a successful, normal American life where they do not need to depend on an outside source anymore.
Sincerely,
Sana Qureshi
"An unprecedented 65.3 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 21.3 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18."
UNHCR