CIP In the News
outreach
Work-exchange participants to reunite
Saturday, July 28, 2007 3:32 AM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
By Sherri Williams
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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.
