I found Ms. Kalimah Johnson’s presentation to the class to be very inspirational on many levels. For purposes of this reflection I would like to focus on two of them including her varied way of practicing social work and her response to my question about managing social work practice that intersects with our personal/private lives and experiences.

                Ms. Kalimah has a fascinating story not just because of some of the difficult experiences she has had, but because how it has informed her view of the world and avenue of practice. I think her story if a powerful example of how even difficult and painful experiences can be used as a force for good. Moreover, by sharing and forming relationship with others with similar experiences allows the group a louder and more effective sounding board for social change and justice work. I am strongly encouraged by how Ms. Kalimah has used her past to impact change in her life and community.

                Another aspect of Ms. Kalimah’s presentation that was meaningful to me (there are many more than discussed hereJ) was her response to my question about boundary setting with issues and clients that bring up personal experiences and feelings. Ms. Kalimah, an incest victim and survivor has been working with DV victims and survivors of abuse through her non-profit as well as collaboration with other community service providers and stakeholder. I asked how she sets appropriate boundaries with working with populations that have similar experiences and resonate personally. Her response is meaningful and critically important for social workers as they intersect with consumers in the point of need. Ms. Kalimah shared the importance of having self-awareness about the issues and areas of personal vulnerability. Moreover, Ms. Kalimah shared how important her supervision was to discuss ethical problems, transference, etc. Having boundaries are an important step to maintaining professional conduct with clients and avoiding poor decision-making.

                A few other aspects worth mentioning include Ms. Kalimah’s poetry and entrepreneurship as they were very informative and inspirational.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book, Little Bee. I found Little Bee’s story to be very compelling. I found the book to very readable and difficult to put down. Little Bee’s harrowing experience seeking asylum from the horrors of her homeland effectively capture the unique challenges facing refugees. Little Bee has challenged many of my views related to immigration and the need for comprehensive changes to the system responsible for handling refuges and other foreign nationals.

I found myself disappointed with the ending of the book. Considering all of the obstacles that Little Bee overcame including, escaping the murderers in her country, fleeing to England, and her 2-year detention I was hoping for a happy ending. I was disappointed that Little Bee was caught and deported back to her homeland at the end of the book. As I reflected more about the ending, I found myself thinking maybe that was the point. Stories that have happy endings make us feel good, but the reality for many people especially refugees there are no happy endings. The reality of detention camps and deportation remain as difficult realities for those seeking refuge from foreign governments.

            Little Bee painfully brought home the reality of conditions in developing countries like Nigeria. The reality of resource wars, ethnic strife, gang rape, and murder are painful realities for many including asylum seekers. Little Bee’s character would constantly think about how she could quickly kill herself in various settings to avoid being a victim of the bad men like the ones that killed her sister, mother, and father. These types of circumstances are hard for many westerners to imagine. It does challenge our complacency as it relates to the realities of our foreign brother and sisters. Why should be care, because, “this is called, globalization?”

 

Some quotes from Little Bee to ponder…

“…a scar is never ugly…a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means, I survived.” (p. 9)

“Sad words are just another beauty. A sad story means, this storyteller is alive.” (p. 9)

“Death, of course, if a refuge. It’s where you go when a new name, or a mask and cape, can no longer hide you from yourself. It’s where you run to when none of the principalities of your conscience will grant you asylum.” (p. 22)

“Horror in your country is something you take a dose of to remind yourself that you are no suffering from it.” (p.47)

“So when I say that I am a refugee, you must understand that there is no refuge.” (p. 46)

 “Truly, there is no flag for use floating people. We are millions, but we are not a nation. We cannot stay together. Maybe we get together in ones and twos, for a day or a month or even a year, but then the wind changes and carries the hope away.” (p. 80)

“How calm my eyes were, since that day on the beach in Africa. When there has been a low so fundamental I suppose that to lose just one more thing—a finger, perhaps, or a husband—is of absolutely no consequence at all.” (p. 91)

“…it seemed in that moment that we were all the same, just creatures in nature hanging without any great effort upon the vast warm wind of events that were greater than us.” (p. 115)

“…life is extremely short and you cannot dance to current affairs.” (p. 133)

“I am illegal, Sarah. The men can come any minute to send me back to my country.” (p. 137)

“To be well in your mind you have first to be free, you see?” (p. 147)

“…there are circumstances in which we will allow men to enter out bodies but not our homes.” (p. 165)

 “I work for central government, remember? Actually doing something is the mistake we’re trained to avoid.” (p. 206)

 “I can’t look at her without thinking how shallow my life is.” (p. 207)

 “There’s eight million people here pretending the other aren’t getting on their nerves. I believe it’s called civilization.” (p. 216)

“…in a street full of white faces, I was trapped because I knew I could never go unnoticed.” (p. 219)

“I realized, this is why the police do not carry guns. In a civilized country, they kill you with a click.” (p. 241)

“Peace is a time when people can tell each other their real names.” (p. 265)