The University of Louisville Alumni Magazine: for alumni, faculty, staff, students and anyone that is a UofL Cardinal fan.
Issue link: https://louisville.epubxp.com/i/705015
3 8 | L O U I S V I L L E . E D U COMING HOME TO BUILD A BETTER HOME Ballard-Kang, on the other hand, wanted to return home — to the city where she had grown up. She had earned degrees from Northwestern University and American University, but Louisville was calling her name. "Louisville is where my roots are. It's where my support system is," she said. Although Ballard-Kang held a master's degree in ESL, she wanted to better understand the needs of refugee populations, so she enrolled in the Kent School of Social Work, where she earned a master's degree in 2015. She's currently a doctoral student. As part of her master's studies, Ballard-Kang undertook a practicum at the Survivors of Torture Recovery Center, an outreach program run by the Kent School. There, she took on the cases of refugees and immigrants that had been victims of torture and/or who may have witnessed torture of family, friends or others in their country of origin prior to arriving in the United States. "I remember my very f rst case. I was working with a woman who had endured tremendous physical and mental abuse in her home country. She was extremely introverted and barely spoke. I connected her with some English classes, but there was more to the story," recounted Ballard-Kang. The woman's success became a personal goal of Ballard-Kang's. "What I saw in her was what I was looking for when I decided to study social work. She had the potential and the intelligence. All she needed was an advocate." And what an advocate Ballard-Kang proved to be. Eventually, that refugee enrolled at UofL. Ballard-Kang became a professional and personal mentor, serving as a liaison between the university and its newest refugee student. "I was able to help professors and administrators understand the perspective of this student. The university was helping, but there were opportunities to do better." One such opportunity was bringing awareness to the diff culties refugees — particularly those affected by torture — face when seeking out resources. In this case, the refugee student needed access to learning techniques and accommodations for her physical and mental disabilities. And in order to create a learning environment that was conducive to the student's success, Ballard-Kang worked closely with several university assistance departments, administrators and instructors to develop methods and adjustments that were new for everyone. "Once we were able to get all the stakeholders on board, the student thrived. Her professors commented on how intelligent she was. I responded, 'I knew she was! We just weren't teaching her in a manner in which she could learn.'" Now, that student is on track to graduate from UofL in the summer of 2016. "It's my biggest success story to date. It's the reason why I do what I do," said Ballard-Kang. A UNIVERSITY WITH COMPASSION Stories like Noor's and Ballard-Kang's abound at UofL. The city of Louisville is home to two resettlement aff liates, Kentucky Refugee Ministries and Catholic Charities, and has welcomed more than 6,500 refugees since 2011 — many of whom are children. "These children are the UofL students of tomorrow," said Carrico. "We can only be a strong university if we are serving the needs of our community. That means everyone in the community." That means non-refugee students as well. "UofL offered me the unique opportunity where I've been able to have real and better case work, one-on-one face time and advantages for exploring the therapeutic side of my research," said Ballard-Kang. "We live in a compassionate city. The more we can study diverse populations, the better university we can become." WHAT IS A REFUGEE? The topic of refugees has dominated news cycles over the past few years, which has led to some misconceptions about what a refugee is and is not. According to the United Nations, a refugee is "a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinions, is outside the country of his/her nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." Of the 14.4 million refugees around the world who are of concern to United Nations, less than one percent are submitted for resettlement. Dr. Ruth Carrico assists a patient at Kentucky Refugee Ministries as part of the Global Health Initiative's Refugee Health & Immunization program.