First Day of Work

I started work at New Communities Partnership!

I have a great team in this small office, composed of people from Ghana, Ireland, Italy, and Poland. We are a completely free service that helps people understand the citizenship process, and get their documents together in order to apply for citizenship.

For instance, I just met with a man from Georgia (the country, not the state!) who needed to get Irish citizenship because it is much cheaper to travel back to his home country as an Irish citizen rather than a Georgian. He was very confused by the process, partially because of his halting English, but also because this process is so complicated!

Before someone can apply for citizenship, they must have been living in Ireland for 5 years, or 3 years if they are married to an Irish citizen. They have to show multiple proofs of residences, bank statements, and displays of "good character". The team in the office seems to be frustrated by this process; although they believe they are helping people and doing the right thing, they frequently tell stories of people who "don't really want citizenship" or "treat it like it's nothing".

The Georgian man had a little girl with him. She was absolutely beautiful and very exotic, with giant blue Russian eyes and long dark hair. I couldn't stop staring at her, but was shocked and saddened when she opened her mouth and I saw that her four front teeth were rotting. The baby the man came in with had oxygen tubes around its tiny nose.

I'm slowly learning the process, but right now, all I can think about is how hard the lives of these people must be.