Summer fun at the Elder Program!

It's hard to believe that summer is almost over! We only had a two-week break in July at the Elder Program, so we've been having a blast all summer! Here's a photo update of things we've been up to...

Pot Luck Picnic
In May we had a picnic at Willow Park, where everybody brought food from their own culture to share. A group of students from a local Catholic school also came and played games with the elders.

Tasting food from different cultures!

David and Hit playing washers with some of the children

Aung and Pah playing washers

Martin and Kamalapati playing wiffleball with Ryan

Volodymyr, Kiummars and Baharieh enjoying the beautiful day!

Hari, Zoilo and Shree hanging out

Tika and Keh loved blowing bubbles! 

Bhadri and Adel having a good time

Musa and teacher Sarah enjoying the day

The whole crew!

Visit from Teacher Jenny
The previous Refugee Elder Program Coordinator, Jenny, came back to visit and bring her baby girl, Eliana, to meet the elders! They LOVED getting to meet the baby and see their teacher again!

Eliana didn't know what to think about meeting all these people for the first time :)

Field Trip to Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
The Elder Program has been awarded an Arts Access Assistance Grant through a program of the Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, which is supported by state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Because of this grant we visited the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft in July. The elders were able to see a collection of art called The Seven Borders- artwork done by artists from the seven states that border Kentucky.

The museum had a map where visitors could place a sticker on the state or country where they're from

Isabel pointing out the place she's from: Cuba!

 After the tour of the exhibit, the elders were taught how to make coil pots out of clay. They loved this activity, and some of them got very creative with their clay!

Kamalapati making his coil pot

Adel enjoying the project

Musa painting his pot

Some of the Bhutanese clients painting their pots

Pah told the interpreter that she was having lots of fun, and she had never done anything like it before! 

Bhadri had a great time!

Madhavid proud of her finished work. "Ramro!" she said, which means "good" in Nepali.

Thank you to the Kentucky Arts Council for making this trip happen!

Making Fruit Salad
Aimee's class made fruit salad to help them learn the English words for different fruits!

Adel cutting the bananas

Martin peeling the oranges

Shree washing the apples

Goodbye Althea!
This summer we said goodbye to Althea, the Americorp Vista working with Catholic Charities who has been a regular part of the Elder Program for the last year. We're going to miss her a lot, and hopefully she can come back to visit from time to time!

Celebrating Summer Birthdays
We celebrated several birthdays this summer at the Elder Program!

Joseph with the birthday muffins

Dharmananda had a July birthday!

Art Therapy with Joyce
The elders continue to do art with Joyce, a retired art therapist. She comes every other week and students rotate through by language groups. Everybody loves getting their turn at making artwork!

Jose showing off his projects

The annual Refugee Elder Program Art Show is up NOW at Iroquois Library, and will run through the end of August. Check it out if you get a chance, and see what sorts of things the elders have been up to in art class for the past year!

Thanks for stopping by to check out what we've been up to!

If you're interested in learning more about the history of our Nepali-speaking Bhutanese refugees, here's a wonderful New York Times article written by a refugee from Bhutan that describes his family's experience:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/29/opinion/bhutan-is-no-shangri-la.html

Thanks to Community Refugee and Immigration Services in Columbus for originally posting the link!