Social Work Internship Report: Refugee Services Part 3

This report details a social work student's internship experience in refugee services, specifically working with the Bantu community of Somalia. The student reflects on the importance of interpersonal and diversity skills, highlighting challenges like linguistic barriers and cultural differences. Strengths such as empathy, active listening, and self-awareness are emphasized, along with the development of communication skills. The report discusses the student's ability to handle refugee issues with patience and pragmatism. The student also identifies areas for improvement, such as building more patience. The experience has provided valuable insights into the challenges faced by refugee communities and the importance of cultural sensitivity in social work practice. The student believes they are well-prepared to start their career, emphasizing their dedication and analytical skills.

Running head: REFUGEE SERVICES: PART 3
REFUGEE SERVICES: PART 3
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author Note

1REFUGEE SERVICES: PART 3
As a social worker working in refugee services, I believe that I would be delivering my best
efforts if I have more competencies in “interpersonal skills” for my internship. As far as
interpersonal skills are concerned, which are dimensionally different from communication skills.
Interpersonal skills are needed for supervisory relationship because as I am dealing with
ethnically diverse communities, I might need to communicate exchange and interact social rules
and relations through verbal and non- verbal communication. I am working with the Bantu
community of Somalia who has come to the USA as refugees from the hands of terrorism and
natural calamities such as drought and famine. As Somalia is a different country altogether and
as a black, muslim African American, I believe that in order to understand the plight of the
African immigrants and the issues they are facing, proper interpersonal skills are of utmost
necessity.
As a social worker, I believe in being a completely unprejudiced observer and an empathetic and
altruistic person who would be genuinely interested to help the people in need. As an intern in
refugee services and as a social worker, my strengths include my empathetic nature, active
listening (in order to ventilate the grievances of the caretakers), self awareness and unprejudiced
observation of society. All these attributes have helped me evolve and emerge as a good social
worker working for social welfare. I have been able to handle the issues of the refugee people
aptly and with utmost patience and perseverance. With my friendly attitude and pragmatism, I
am able to an open participant in the whole process of social and community work.
One of the biggest challenges that I have encountered in the supervision of the Bantu community
immigrants from Somalia (West Africa) is the linguistic blockage. Somali refugees, who are not
much aware of the English language was very difficult for me to communicate. As an American,
I was not aware of any African language so in the beginning, I had no clue how to talk to them.

2REFUGEE SERVICES: PART 3
However, through observation and sign language, in the beginning, I was able to communicate
them initially but still, there was certain communication gaps that made me realize that the
immigrants need to be dealt separately and sensitively. The United States is a country which is
not that famous for being multilingual. The society of the USA is most comfortable with English.
It is difficult for Somali refugees to suddenly come to the US, get mingled with the society, hold
a job and earn a degree. As a social worker, I guided them in the respective language and made
them comfortable by providing my best.
As a supervisor, I believe that I should work on “interpersonal skills” and “diversity
skills” in order to increase my efficiency in my field of career. As a sociology student and an
ardent and enthusiast social worker, those skills would help me gain mastery in my field. A
social worker meets different types of people to solve their problems, thus, diversity
management skills are of utmost importance for me. Active listening is the area where I have
improved a lot from my previous experiences. Communication skills in me have improved and
now I have an excellent command in verbal and non- verbal communication. My weakness is
that sometimes I lose patience, so I have to build perseverance in me. For a social worker,
patience is important as they have to deal with different people from different backgrounds who
would always not meet up to the expectation.
I think I am quite confident as a social worker and while beginning my career, I would
not require any supervisor above me to look after my work. I believe that I am a dedicated social
worker with the qualities required in the field. I am also quite analytical and a multi-tasker at the
same time. Therefore, I would not require a supervisor for myself in my career. Working with
the refugee community of Sudan has provided me with a different edge in my career. Fair and
foul, all kinds of experiences have been gathered by me through the internship. Being a black

3REFUGEE SERVICES: PART 3
ethnic minority myself, I have started understanding the quintessential problems they might be
facing in the US as refugee ethnic minorities. The precious experience that I have gained through
the internship with the beautiful and colorful Bantu refugee community from Somalia has helped
me gain deeper insights about the beauty of diversity and unity.