Asmea Errabah

Dorchester

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Asmea Errabah knows a thing or two about perseverance. When she came to the United States from Morocco at the age of 21, she spoke almost no English and had only her sister for company. Now, she holds a Masters in Accounting from UMass Boston and volunteers as a tax preparer at the ABCD Dorchester Neighborhood Opportunity Center, helping low-income Bostonians file their taxes and receive reimbursements.

 

Errabah signed up for IRS’ Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program (VITA) last year as a way to both help out her community and gain hands-on experience in the tax preparation space; she eventually took a VITA certification exam and was placed in Dorchester. “In Dorchester especially, there was a need for someone who speaks Arabic, so it was the perfect match,” she says.

 

As a tax preparer, Errabah assists clients with all of their tax needs: processing intake forms, reviewing documents, inputting figures, and verifying information. But the most important part of the VITA program for her is that it is a free service: “It helps the community in a big way. That’s what I find truly amazing.”

 

Errabah is also always willing and able to step in when another tax preparer or site employee needed help communicating with an Arabic speaking client, and she credits the other multilingual volunteers at the site for doing the same. “We had volunteers who spoke Spanish, Mandarin, and Vietnamese, so it wasn’t just one group that was able to receive support.”

 

Despite only having volunteered for a few months, Errabah is keenly aware of the impact she and other volunteers are having on the community. “I know what it feels like to want to say or do something but being unable to because of a language barrier,” she says. “Seeing the joy and gratitude when you’re able to communicate with and help someone you have no connection with is amazing.”