For Highlights of the CIP Reunion Click Here

 

Welcome to the

Columbus International Programm

  

 We are a non-profit organization dedicated to Promoting International

Understanding through Intercultural Exchange. For over 38 years we

have provided opportunities for international professionals from around the

world to gain valuable insight and experience through our professional

exchange programs throughout central Ohio.  

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We are pleased to announce the upcoming International Buffet and Silent Auction.  This is a wonderful event with food and beverages from over 40 leading restaurants.  The event will be held on Sunday September 14,2008 at the Online Computer Library Center, Inc. (OCLC) This is the 34th annual event and promises to be the best yet.  For futher information contact the CIP office at 221-0034.

 

Other upcoming events include the arrival of our delegation from the country of  Georgia.  The group includes 10 professionals who work in the area of Vocational Education.  They will arrive in Columbus on September 4, 2008 and will return to their homeland on September 24, 2008.  We are still looking for host families for this delegation.  While the group is here, CIP will be hosting several cultural events for our members.  Stay tuned for exciting updates soon.

 

CIP just completed hosting the delegation from Azerbaijan on July 2, 2008.  While here the group of State Budget Professionals enjoyed 22 days of meetings with dignitaries from around the State to help them implement best practices back home.  Thank you to the many organizations who participated along the way including Senator Sherrod Brown, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, The Ohio Supreme Court, The Ohio Department of Development, The Ohio Office of Budget and Management, The Department of Administrative Services and many others.  We look forward to updates from this group.

 

CIP In the News

outreach

Work-exchange participants to reunite

Saturday,  July 28, 2007 3:32 AM

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

By Sherri Williams

 

<p>Kouadio</p>

Kouadio When she left her native Ivory Coast for the United States in 1995, Francoise Dakri Kouadio was excited about her first trip abroad but worried about the stories she'd heard regarding American violence.

She landed in Columbus on her 23rd birthday to work as a French and culture instructor in Upper Arlington schools through the Columbus International Program.  What she found

surprised her.

"It was welcoming," said Kouadio, 34. "What I have gained here is worth 10 years of life experience at home. . . . It opened my eyes a lot."

Kouadio, today a consultant at an engineering firm in Indianapolis, will have a rare chance this  weekend to share memories with other participants in the work-exchange program.

About 60 graduates from 40 countries will return to the city Sunday for the first reunion.

Since its founding in 1970, the program has exposed more than 800 people from 108 nations to experiences in business, education, social services and other areas, said Ruth Schildhouse, chairwoman

of the reunion.

The event was planned for this year, she said, to coincide with a meeting in Cleveland of the Council of International Programs.

Decades ago, much of the international community in Columbus attended Ohio State University and rarely left the campus, said Schildhouse, executive director of the project from 1972 to 1999.

Program participants, in contrast, stayed with host families and became involved in the community.

"They got to know intimately people from other countries," Schildhouse said. "These became lasting relationships. Families have visited participants in their home countries, and they have kept in touch."

The foreigners were immersed in American culture.

Visits to Amish country and Appalachia gave Pat Narainsamy a glimpse of American communities she hadn't seen.

A native of South Africa, she came to Columbus in 1989, while in her 20s, after toiling as a social worker for a few years.

She entered the workexchange program to learn how her profession operated in the United States and was placed in Youth Advocate Services, a nonprofit agency that helps disadvantaged children and their families.

The stint, Narainsamy said, opened her eyes to problems that central Ohioans experience at an early age -- issues, such as drug abuse and promiscuity, that don't affect their counterparts in South Africa.

She went home but returned to Columbus in 1992 -- drawn in part by the friendships she had established, she said.

"I met a lot of people who were genuinely interested in things that were going on in other parts of the world."

sherri.williams@dispatch.com

The particulars

• The reunion of the Columbus International Program will begin at 1 p.m. Sunday at Butternut Shelter in Blacklick Woods Metro Park, 6975 E. Livingston Ave., Reynoldsburg.

• The 33rd annual International Buffet and Silent Auction will last from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 6500 Doubletree Ave. Call 614-221-0034 or visit www.cipcolumbus.org.

 

For More Information Contact

The Columbus International Program Office

www.cipcolumbus.org

Or call the CIP office at 614-221-0034

Email: cipcols@aol.com

 

 

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Click on the "Donate Now" Button Below

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COLUMBUS INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM
57 Jefferson Avenue Columbus, Ohio 43215-3866
(614) 221-0034 cipcols@aol.com