Sabi Gautam

"I decided to help new families who have just arrived in Vermont (this country)  from another country because I know what it is like to be in a new country. I'm helping this family because our background is the same; even though we are from different countries, we still have many things in common," says Sabi. Sabi is a high school student, and she has been volunteering for about three months. She is volunteering to help a new family who were resettled in Vermont from Thailand three months ago.

Sabi choose to help a new family who is new to this country because she knows the pain of leaving her own country to live in a new one. She has done other volunteer work before. When she was in Nepal, she used to teach English to adults. She said  she has been looking to help  families for a long time, but she wanted to know and have more knowledge about this place before she started her volunteer work. Since she's  been living in Vermont for three years now, she thinks she would able to help a new family settle in their new place. To get involved, she went to one of the organizers at the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program( VRRP) that helps new refugees resettle in Vermont. She was familiar with this organizer because when she first came here, this was the organizer that helped her start her life here.

http://www.refugees.org/assets/images/vrrp/vt-fiel (http://www.refugees.org/assets/images/vrrp/vt-fiel)

The organizer assigned her the family she is working with now. She went to their house after a week to meet them. She said, she struggled for the first few weeks because she had a hard time understanding their language and getting used to them, but now she is totally comfortable with them. After a few weeks passed she realized that they hadn't really talked to her a lot, but she knew what was wrong with them from her own experience.  She knew they weren't used to the place, weather, time and people, so she gave them time to make themselves as comfortable as possible. Now they call her whenever they need to go  grocery store or  hospital. She also takes them on trips sometimes.  She spends her free time with them. Whenever she goes to their house, they tell her about their life in Thailand and give her food from Thailand. She is delighted to work with this family.

We might be different, but our background is same. (http://www.jsc.edu/NewsandEvents/News/NewsArchive/ (http://www.jsc.edu/NewsandEvents/News/NewsArchive/))

Sabi is looking forward to work with more new families, but she would be helping this family because she thinks she is not been able to give them much time now. She is making more plans for this family for the summer.

 I chose my sister, Sabi, for this story because I know it has changed her and it is really important for me to start learning to change and make a difference towards community like she has by what she is doing now. Sabi is not only my sister, but also my hero and inspiration. Her willingness, bravery,  courage and her kindness toward people is my inspiration.