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Running Head: VALUES PAPER

Denisa Llangos
Values Paper
SW 3010
10/10/13
Ey8514

Price is what you pay, Value is what you get. Warren Buffet
My family and I have encountered a very challenging lifetime experience, coming from
a different continent and a whole different culture to me it seems like we have moved to a whole
new world. Being very young and not knowing the English language nor culture, I know a thing
or two when it comes to forming a determined personality that makes me who I am today. This is
a very strong key that I have learned that leads me to social work. If you dont know already, I
am from a little country in Eastern Europe called Albania, which is near Greece and across the
Mediterranean Sea from Italy. I was born and raised there and then moved to the US when I was
thirteen years old. I grew up in a completely different environment, society and culture. Albania
is considered a third world country and it is. I come from a big family so it was a struggle to not
only as a kid to get a toy but it was a struggle to eat. I always had to think twice before doing
something and made sure I shared anything I owned with everyone else whether it was a single
cookie or simple T-shirt. However, even though it was a struggle for my family and I living
there, some of my great memories that I treasure are from when I was younger. When we moved
here it took me by surprise how little I knew and how hard it is to start a life from scratch. The
little things people do not appreciate when they are given small tasks to accomplish, just as
simple as helping one another no matter gender, race, diversity or culture. As the youngest in my
family and being the only one that spoke English I had to take care of basically everything that
the household need it such as; keeping up with the bills, phone calls, going to doctors
appointment for translation, and even at times making a big decision. (NASW code of Ethics)
Billing: Social workers should establish and maintain billing practices that accurately reflect the
nature and extent of services provided and that identify who provided the service in the practice
setting. I had to focus on things that children at that age dont have to or even know about.

Llangos (2013). Although it was a big struggle and I shed many tears on the way, that chapter in
my life made me stronger, competent and also made me realize my values today and where I am
heading towards. As I have gotten older and wiser I have encountered my strongest values and I
believe that is helping people. I started with helping my family but thats not where it ends I want
to help others who are in need. I have realized that helping people has become a part of me that
has lead me and made it easier for me to decide on what I want to do with the rest of my life. I
accommodate easily no matter what the situation was/is and that was taught to me by my parents
and the life struggles we have encountered. I do know that once you are used to one environment
good or bad, a dramatic change is very hard sometimes impossible but it can be done with the
push of someone but most of all yourself.
Albania is considered and it is a third world country, but among it, it has very hard
working people whom want more out of life. Albania was run by the Ottoman Empire from 1400
to 1912, and was under their supervision for about 500 years. Albania won their independence
from Turkey in 1912. Italy was another European country that battled Albania in 1939 and lastly,
Germany from 1943 to 1944. So many battles came along; however, the Albanian people still
stayed strong. It is important to understand who Albanians are, and what we went through which
led to massive migration, and that was not easy. In Italy, they were not welcomed, even to this
day, also in Greece, they were seen with hatred because they saw us as enemies. Greece always
wanted to influence the Albanian population. For example, they wanted to make the Greek
language a second official language in Albania, which was more than unnecessary for the
Albanians to use a language, that not beneficial when the rest of the world spoke English. The
purpose for including Albanian history is because I want to point out how Albanians including
myself are. We are people that saw it all, social injustice, poverty, war, and to mention we were

once a communist country for many years. In Albania the field of social does not exist and its
not even heard of. I want to enforce that we need more Social Workers throughout the world like
in countries who really need it such as Albania.
According to the (NASW code of ethics) Ethical standards of conflicts of interest says
that, Social workers should not take unfair advantage of any professional relationship or exploit
others to further their personal, religious, political, or business interests. As it was stated above
that Social Work is not about you but it is about others, nothing should be done by a personal
interest of desire. Having such a large family I clearly understand the meaning of helping others
as it will guide through my future career as a professional social worker. Using my drive on
wanting to help people and the knowledge that I have and will learn from this program will help
me provide my clients with the best care. Respect is another key factor that is needed in this field
of work. In my family respect is a repeated learning behavior and is strictly pushed in action
everyday. It is our number one norm here in this country that is passed on to generations. How I
was raised and taught, I will be respectful to my clients, my peers, authority, elderly, and etc.
(NASW Code of Ethics 2.01 Respect).
When asked to write about the population that would be the most difficult to work with, I
would say the Greeks. Albanians as you know, were and are not welcomed in Greece nor are
they recognized on what they do. Albanians immigrated to Greece years ago for better
employment since it is a neighbor city and it is easier to travel to with no complications. Greece
and Albania are not different in many aspects such as; culture, values, and believes but we do
have a language barrier. The Greeks look down on us because unlike them we have nothing to
offer them in regards to move to our country for a better life however they can provide that for
us. Therefore, because of that they are not welcoming when it comes to our population. For

example, if an Albanian individual goes to Greece in order to get through he/she has to hide their
identity and not show where they came from, because if they reveal their true identity they are
very likely to be treated unfair. The Albanian population that lives there has to accommodate to
that and even change their names so they would not be recognized as Albanians and they also
suffer to get legal documentation because the Greek government refuses to do so. However it
would be unfair to say that the whole Greek population has only a negative look towards us,
there were a lot of positive individuals that even though the society permits them to look down
us as Albanians, they did not follow that influence. Part of my family that had migrated to
Greece had bad and good things to say about it but because a lot of Albanians migrated to Greece
we didnt know any better so we dealt with it. However that was not the case for my family, we
had the chance to come to America and that was completely different. The US is the melting pot
of different diversities. Having such a wide diversity is what makes people living here more
open-minded and less judgmental. I was taught to respect others no matter of gender, race, and
ethnicity from my parents and the knowledge that I have gained living here, to show no
discrimination. (NASW Code of Ethics, 4.02) Discrimination. I mentioned above that the one
population that I would have difficulties working with would be the Greek population, but thats
not the case. I cant see Greek population as one, each individual holds their own beliefs and
values therefore if a client of mine happens to be Greek I would not refer them to another social
worker just because of their ethnicity. Society has taught us to not see a person by color or race
but by what they bring as an individual, and that is what I believe. Like mentioned above each
individual has its own value, belief and also holds their own personal identities therefore it is
essential for as a Social Worker to know personal information towards a clients but it is also
important for a social worker to keep that personal information confidential. (NASW Code of

Ethics: 2.02) Confidentiality states that: Social workers should respect confidential information
shared by colleagues in the course of their professional relationships and transactions. Social
workers should ensure that such colleagues understand social workers obligation to respect
confidentiality and any exceptions related to it.
After doing this assignment my decision on becoming a social worker still remains the
same. Nothing is easy in any field of work but in order to do and be great at it you have to love
it. Therefore becoming a social worker is my dream but we all know to make a dream a reality
requires hard work and determination. Furthermore, you have to have it in you to make it
possible. Facing problems and conflicts it is not easy and it is very challenging but life is full of
surprises some which are good and some are bad. Like my mother says problems surrounding an
individual make them stronger and wiser for the next time they are faced with one. So like I have
mentioned before the drive and the want to become a social worker is in me already, so my goal
is to receive the knowledge and the right tools to provide my clients with the best help and care
out there.

Reference Page

NASWDelegateAssembly(1996)CodeofEthicsoftheNationalAssociationofSocialWorkers.
Retrievedfromhttps://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/code.asp