Samuel Lamacka never considered going to a domestic violence court hearing just to learn until he came to Chattanooga.
“In Slovakia, the services are at a lower level because we don’t have the funds,” said the 27-year-old social worker from the Eastern European country.
In Bratislava, the country’s capital, he is one of two social workers at Dúha, a crisis center for women and children, and his responsibilities range from essential care to counseling and crisis intervention. It’s all they can do just to help their clients with day-to-day needs, much less have time to go to court just for the chance to learn something new, he said.
That’s what he came to the United States to do.
Mr. Lamacka has been in Chattanooga for about a week, learning about the domestic violence shelter at the Partnership for Families, Children and Adults, part of an exchange with Dúha that started four years ago.