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!

We're in The Paper!

It's an exciting day at the Elder Program- we're in The Paper! Check out the article online here:

http://www.thelouisvillepaper.com/louisville-refugee-elder-program/

Louisville Slugger Field

A few weeks ago, we took a field trip to the Louisville Slugger Field for a tour of the stadium where the Louisville Bats play! The elders had a great time, and many of them said they were interested in going to a game, so we were able to reserve group tickets for a game in late June.  Check back for pictures of the game, and in the mean time check out the photos from our tour!

Arriving at the stadium!

Unfortunately, it was a rainy day, but everybody had a good time anyway!

The elders got to hang out in the visiting team's dugout!

Baharieh and interpreter Sima having a great time!

Hong, interpreter Truclan, and Le Boi

Calixto loves baseball!

Abdel and volunteer Ward

Volunteer Katie, Modhr, Abdel and teacher Michaela on the baseball field!

At the end of the tour, we were able to sit in an all-inclusive box seat!

Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to check back for the photos from the game in late June! :)

Exercise Class

A couple of posts ago I talked about Abdel, one of our elders who was a professional swimmer in Iraq.  Abdel still loves to exercise, and he volunteers at the YMCA in order to get a free membership. A few weeks ago, teacher Michaela talked with him about leading the other students in some light exercises before class. He loved the idea, so the students have been exercising for about 10 minutes before class begins everyday. The teachers said they've even noticed a difference in the students' energy levels in class!

Frankfort!

One day when we had interpreters at the program a few months ago, some of the Bhutanese clients came to me and told me they have never been to the capital of Kentucky, and they would really like to see it. We had some money saved from our St. James Art Fair Fundraiser, so we were able to take the students on a field trip on April 16. We had enough people to fill a school bus and two large vans!

We stopped first to eat lunch at a park. It was a beautiful day, and everybody brought food to share with their classmates and teachers- it was delicious! 

Some of the Bhutanese students enjoying lunch.

Tara had a great time!

Modhr and Adel...these two are mushkila! ;)

Le Boi and Hong with teacher Michaela

Then we went to the Capitol for a tour. The elders LOVED getting to see everything, and we were able to bring interpreters with us so they could understand what they were experiencing.

Sitting in the Kentucky House of Representatives.

Everyone loved getting to stand at the podium for the Speaker of the House.

Hari Maya, Indra, Madhavid, and Tika enjoying the Capitol!

Cross-cultural friends :)

Hari with a very famous Kentuckian- Colonial Sanders!

A professional photographer took our picture at the beginning of the tour, and everybody received a copy in the mail. Here's our whole group...people from all over the world who are now proud to be Kentuckians!

At the end of the tour, everybody was given a certificate with their name on it.

Before we went home, we also stopped at the Capital City Museum, where we learned all about the history of Frankfort. 

Everybody had a blast. Thank you to everybody who supports the Elder Program, for making this day happen for our students!