Known worldwide as Derby City, Louisville is home to several notable names, including Muhammad Ali, the Louisville Slugger, and – yes – Kentucky Fried Chicken. Perhaps a lesser-known fact, however, is that our fair city is also home to a large number of international migrants who come from war-torn nations like Burma and Sudan.
According to the Kentucky Office for Refugees, more than 55,000 refugees and immigrants currently reside in Louisville, accounting for half of the city’s population growth in the past decade. Resettlement agencies such as Catholic Charities and Kentucky Refugee Ministries work to provide housing, employment, and English language classes for these populations, helping them adjust to life in America.
Within the first three months of the resettlement process, many refugees and immigrants begin the process of rebuilding their lives, focusing on the responsibilities of raising a family while coping with the trauma of having recently escaped persecution. For many, the urgency to learn English is not quite as pressing as the need to pay bills, buy groceries, and become self-sufficient. In an attempt to confront this disparity, several communities have popped up around the city to help foreign-born individuals improve their interpersonal skills and develop their English proficiency.
One such champion of this outreach movement is Sophie Maier, immigrant services librarian for the Louisville Free Public Library. Stationed at the Iroquois branch, Maier has dedicated the past decade of her career to establishing cultural and educational programs and partnerships with immigrant and refugee group leaders around the city.
A signature program that Maier has helped institute is the English Conversation Club, which began at the Iroquois branch but was recently replicated at the Main, Newburg, and Okolona branches.
“The concept is bringing volunteers and English language learners together for one-on-one conversation,” said Maier. “We work with a large number of refugees who are in their first three months of resettlement and are attending English schools throughout the city. But often times the classes are fairly large. And any person who has ever learned a second, third, or fourth language knows that one can’t really feel comfortable using it until it’s put into practice. We see the English Conversation Club as a good supplement to the classes that are out there.”
In the late ‘90s, while earning her masters in political science, Maier focused her studies on the Middle East. She later enrolled at Harlaxton College near Grantham, England before moving to Spain to learn about the hardships of African migrants in the coastal cities of Europe. She has incorporated many of her experiences into the programs at Iroquois Library.
Before returning to her hometown of Louisville, Maier was finishing her first year as an English teacher at Tokyo Kogei University in Japan. She traveled home during a school break and was scheduled to return back to Japan on Sept. 13, 2001. When the terrorist attacks happened in New York City, Maier was unable to fly back to Japan and her position was given to someone else at the university.
“As one can imagine, after 9/11, I had to rethink exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to do it,” said Maier, explaining that she intended to travel to Palestine and other parts of the Middle East after finishing her tenure in Japan. “But in the meantime I needed to find a job. So after some time, I found a position in the children’s department in the Louisville Main Public Library. What I discovered was that, since I’d been gone, Louisville had become more diverse than I ever could have imagined.”
Maier worked as a bookmobile driver and made frequent stops at the Kingston Park Apartments – formerly Americana Apartments – and connected with several immigrants in the South End of Louisville.
“I felt the compulsion to stay here and work with that community,” said Maier. “It wasn’t too long afterward that a job became available here at the Iroquois Library. That was a dream job for me. That happened 11 years ago and I’m still here.”
Aadil Alqasem, a refugee from Iraq and frequent patron of Iroquois Library, immigrated to Louisville in 2010 and has since been able to hone his skills as an artist, presenting his work at various locations around the city. However, for Alqasem, one of the biggest challenges of being a refugee was adapting to the English-speaking environment, a burden that was made lighter with support from the English Conversation Club.
“First time I came to the library, the people tried to speak to me, but I didn’t know what was going on,” said Alqasem. “Sometimes I just smiled at them because I didn’t understand what they were saying. Sometimes when I needed help with some words or I needed to understand how to use a sentence, I came to the English Conversation Club and I got help with that. So it’s really good. It’s awesome.”
Those who come to Iroquois Library to learn English are most often refugees who have had their education interrupted and might not be proficient in their own first language. However, a sizeable number of visitors in the past have been professionals in their own countries who simply want to acquaint themselves with Louisville’s international community.
Through the years, several postdoctoral students – one of whom was an astrophysicist – attended the English Conversation Club on a regular basis. According to Maier, such people are typically very fluent in technical English, but may run into problems when they encounter colloquial Kentucky English.
For this reason, the Spanish Literary Salon was introduced at the request of some Cuban refugees who were renowned university professors in their native country. According to Maier, the idea was to have a Spanish language literary salon where people would present on their different areas of expertise to other Latinos and create a space of inclusion and ideation.
“It was a neat venue to bring Latinos together and share their experiences and knowledge,” said Maier. “The gentleman who started it is now a professor at Bellarmine, but there are many other success stories that make all the effort and work worthwhile.”
As the Spanish Literary Salon grew in popularity, other programming soon followed. These included Cultural Showcases, which highlight the cultural heritage and contributions of immigrant groups throughout history; the Arabic Literary Salon; and the French Circle. In addition, Maier has introduced a film series to help foster a community of open dialogue surrounding topics such as immigration law and social justice.
“That’s one of the great benefits of this job,” said Maier, referring to her decade-long career at the Iroquois Library. “Watching how people progress is one of the most phenomenal things to observe. Many have come not with just one language, but have come with two or three. And then English is perhaps their fourth and they pick it up just like that. So it’s pretty amazing.”
Francisco Juarez has been attending the various programs at Iroquois Library for more than five years and said he’s noticed a growth in his worldview. As an immigrant from Mexico, he admitted that he hasn’t experienced diversity like the kind he’s seen in Louisville.
“The first reason why I started going to Iroquois was to improve my English,” said Juarez. “But while I was there I met many interesting people, both from America and all over the world. Here you can find people from Somalia and Tunisia and other places I never knew existed. After getting to know these people, I started becoming more open minded. When I talk to others in the English Conversation Club I learned that we are not as different as I once thought. We all have family; we have friends. We all want a better life. So I’ve learned it’s more about the similarities than the differences.”
– Elijah McKenzie
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