Dear Friends, 

This past Sunday, surrounded by flowers and friends, we celebrated together.

Over four years of Cville Tulips, we have celebrated often. During Sunday’s gathering, we honored the remarkable mothers of ten high school graduates, recognizing their role in their children’s achievement—their strength, courage, resourcefulness, and creativity. We also celebrated the women who attended English classes throughout the year with certificates of achievement, as well as the UVA students who will graduate next month.

For all its joy, this celebration reflected the strength of the community that has come together in the four years that Cville Tulips has been offering English classes, health education, and youth programming.

When the elementary school children slipped from enthusiastic cheering into fidgety impatience, we asked them, “Why are we here?” One child answered, “Because they are learning.” Another added, “And because they did really good.” At the same time, an Afghan UVA student reflected on her own mother’s loneliness, saying, “I wish there was something like this for my mom.”

We are proud of the way students, faculty, and staff across the University have come together to meet a demonstrated community need while also creating meaningful opportunities for students. We are proud of our undergraduates whose capstone projects in public health, global studies, education, public policy, and more grew out of their experiences with Cville Tulips. We are proud of our medical students who took the time to teach health education and who see the women not just as future patients, but as vital knowledge holders.

Our research with the International Family Medicine Clinic puts Cville Tulips in a unique position to ensure that refugee women’s voices are meaningfully represented in public health research and community impact surveys. Through sustainable relationships, storytelling, creative arts, and community partnerships, we create spaces where women’s knowledge is honored. 

Cville Tulips gives us hope and gives us reasons to celebrate. But we are at a critical juncture. 

In this moment of shrinking budgets and decreased grant funding across the refugee support sector, we have not secured sustainable funding for Cville Tulips. Without significant support, we will likely have to reduce programming in the coming year. 

To be the place that women consistently describe as their main source of belonging outside the home requires enormous coordination and support. We provide transportation, English classes, health education, interpretation, youth programming, community resources, meals, and more to build a welcoming space for dozens of families. 

Each week, we spend over $2,000 to provide essential services for the families we serve. 

We are asking for your help now. A one-time or recurring donation directly supports:

• English classes for women

• Youth activities, sports, and art

• Transportation for families

• Meals for students and community members 

• Training for UVA undergraduates and medical students 

• Classroom materials and support 

• Interpretation during gatherings and between sessions 

Every gift matters. A donation of $25 helps provide snacks for children’s programming. A donation of $150 covers a week of English lessons and support for one class. Recurring gifts help us plan for the future and sustain programming throughout the year. 

We are deeply grateful for every donor, volunteer, and partner who has helped make Cville Tulips possible. We hope you will consider making a gift today so that we can continue to create a space where women and families feel welcomed, supported, and empowered. 

With gratitude, 

Bonnie Gordon, Marjan Omranian, Elsa Thompson, and Liz Wittner

Eid Celebration

At the end of March, thanks to the continued partnership of Fry’s Spring Beach Club and at the request of the women we work with, Cville Tulips gathered at the club to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, and Nowruz, the Persian New Year. We were reminded of our first official gathering four years ago, which was also a Nowruz celebration. Then, many families were still living in hotels and just beginning to build new lives here.

These holidays are centered on family, community, and traditions usually shared close to home, and for families far from loved ones, that sense of togetherness can be hard to recreate. This year, we were grateful to celebrate not only Eid, but also four years of community building.

The women wore beautiful new outfits, and we shared Afghan food prepared by Chef Najeeba Popal. The playlist was, as always, curated by a collective of teen girls and UVA students. The youth, from toddlers to college students, were delighted by the playground and green spaces.

English Classes

This spring, we had 45 active learners in our five English classes, including six new women who joined for the first time.

Classes are led by teachers and supported by interpreters and volunteers. Many of our volunteers are UVA students who receive practical teaching experience under the mentorship of experienced ESOL instructors. Together, teachers, interpreters, and volunteers work to support women with a wide range of English levels. Our classes for women with emerging English skills often require two interpreters due to the variety of languages and dialects spoken within even a small group of Afghan and Syrian women.

Many women also have very young children who are not yet ready to join the youth programming. For these little ones, the student-led baby team provides quiet toys and caring volunteers who are ready to entertain and distract so that their mothers can participate more fully in class.

As we look ahead, we celebrate the progress of our learners. Our highest-level English learners will soon graduate from formal classes and transition into conversation partnerships with student volunteers, while also finding ways to use their own English skills to support and encourage other women in the program.

Health Education

This spring, medical students—led by Dr. Fern Hauck, founder and director of the International Family Medicine Clinic, along with Dr. Jessica Row and Dr. Mansi Trivedi—focused on mental health. Public health master’s students and undergraduates also created thoughtful print and video materials that introduce culturally responsive yoga and stress reduction techniques.

We also launched a community-engaged research initiative that centers women’s knowledge as a foundation for healthier families and stronger communities. This work takes place both within Cville Tulips and through broader collaborations with the International Family Medicine Clinic, Albemarle County Public Schools, and the International Rescue Committee. Together, these partnerships allow us to build culturally responsive spaces for storytelling, arts-based practice, health education, and leadership, while also identifying approaches that can be sustained beyond Tulips itself.

We could not do this work without the International Family Medicine Clinic, whose partnership has been indispensable in supporting refugee families, grounding this work in medical care, and helping train medical students and physicians in trauma-informed, community-based practice.

Art

Art has always been central to our programming and is led by UVA students and recent college graduates. For the women, making beautiful things is deeply rooted in their cultures, and for the children, art offers both a creative outlet and a calm, meditative way to connect with student volunteers.

This spring, the children—led by Sana Friedman—decorated graduation stoles for the undergraduate leaders, covering them with flowers, abstract self-portraits, phonetic spellings, and animal friends that captured the joyful, improvised nature of children building community together.

Meanwhile, the women—led by Rebecca Lerdau—worked on handmade cloth baby books. This collective project honored the women’s textile traditions and their deep commitment to early literacy. Even women with limited literacy were able to create books their children would love, incorporating letters, numbers, zippers, Velcro, and other tactile elements to make them playful, personal, and meaningful.

Thank you for helping Afghan and Syrian families thrive in Charlottesville.

Your gift supports English classes, interpretation, transportation, health education, youth programming, and a welcoming community for families building their lives here.

Please consider making a one-time or monthly gift today to help sustain this work.