Category: Africa

The Small Things are Big

3/24/2022

2022 n03

Dan thought KIN’s Embrace Initiative would be a good outreach project and a way for his men’s group to experience community mission work and grow closer. One of the young men in the group thought, “This is going to be fun, just hanging out and building relationships.” So KIN representatives met the 7 men on a Saturday morning, walked them through a not-so-short orientation, and introduced “their” international family.

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An Eagle Scout and an Elder Stateman

11/9/2020

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2020 n16
It sounds like the beginning of a joke: An Eagle Scout and an elder stateman walk into a used bookstore…

But it’s not a joke. It’s the kind of thing that happens often in KIN’s LaMP program.

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When Unprecedented is Good

5/19/2020

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Twice a week, Mrs. W logs into an online meeting platform and connects with a family across town. The three siblings are lined up, ready to work with her for about 20 minutes each. Their father is there, too. He follows along, encouraging the children, but he usually learns a few new things himself, too.

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Of Holidays, Gravy, and Refugee Camps

11/20/2019

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2019 n23
If you grew up in the United States, the story isn’t new for you. You know about the Pilgrims’ struggle to survive when they first arrived in the new land, about the Native Americans’ generosity and patience, and about that first Thanksgiving feast to celebrate a plentiful harvest.

But Thanksgiving is an exclusively American holiday, so for ten African adult English students meeting at a nearby middle school, everything about it is new—even the mashed potatoes.

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What'cha Gonna Do?

10/22/2019

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2019 n22
There’s English, and then there’s southern American. The ESL workbooks don’t teach southern American, which means the books don’t provide a few of the words our internationals need to understand their Knoxville neighbors.

One recent ESL class talked about contractions. The instructor handed out a list of common contractions, and the class reverse-engineered them to discover the full phrases behind each one.

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Starting Over AGAIN

6/17/2019

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Vincent with his family, at the mall shortly after they arrived

2019 n12
In primary school, Vincent Ndahayo had to draw the African continent, placing all the countries with their capitals and naming the president of each. This knowledge served him well in 1994 when, at the age of 24, Vincent faced the difficult decision to leave his home and country or be killed because of his ethnicity.

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The Orange Line

2/8/2019

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2019 n03
She came to Knoxville alone: a widow with three small children, fleeing an ongoing conflict in her African home country. She found an English class and attended faithfully all summer. With a small child on each hand and her baby strapped to her back, she wrote down every word and asked many questions, but she needed to learn more quickly, so she added another day of classes.

Soon she found a job, but she had to take the bus to get there. That's where things got confusing.

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The Small Things are Big

An Eagle Scout and an Elder Stateman

When Unprecedented is Good

Of Holidays, Gravy, and Refugee Camps

What'cha Gonna Do?

Starting Over AGAIN

The Orange Line

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