Cville Tulips builds community with predominantly Afghan and Syrian refugee women and children through culturally-responsive English, health, and arts education. Our programming fosters a sense of belonging, creates a space for resilience, and empowers families to thrive.  

Get involved in Cville Tulips

Join our community and learn English with us

Mark your calendars!

Spring gatherings are scheduled for:

January 26, February 9, February 23, March 2, March 23, April 6, April 13, April 27

All programming is free of charge and transportation will be provided for those who need it.

ABOUT CVILLE TULIPS

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@Cville Tulips

Cville Tulips began in the winter of 2022 as a space for recently arrived Afghan women to gather and build community. We now meet weekly in the summer and bi-weekly during the school year. Women attend English and Health Learning Circles. Kids of all ages enjoy soccer, games, visual arts, and drumming. Interpreters, hired from the Cville Tulips community of women, help bridge linguistic and cultural differences. English, Health, and Youth programming are supervised by faculty and staff from the Center for English Language and Culture and the Medical School and College of Arts and Sciences. Madison House provides volunteer support.  

Our name, Cville Tulips, references the huge fields of red tulips in Afghanistan. And, across the Middle East Tulips symbolize women, resilience, and thriving. It felt important to choose a name that works in Pashto, Dari, Arabic and English to convey a sense of belonging to multiple diasporas and to the place we all live now.  

Programming

English Language Learning

Cville Tulips English Program offers a welcoming space for women where they can focus on learning while their children are cared for, and transportation is provided. Faculty from UVA’s Center for American English Language designed English Circles ranging from beginning literacy to specialized circles like “Citizenship,”  and advise the English team comprised of interpreters, childcare volunteers, and English Circle leaders.

Youth Programming

Youth programming, led by undergraduates and supervised by UVA faculty and local teachers, centers on drama workshops, visual arts, outdoor free play, and soccer. Programming for teenage girls includes leadership training and an occasional radio show. 

Health Education

At each gathering, physicians and residents from the International Family Medicine Clinic at UVA prepare and present a health education module on a topic requested by Cville Tulips participants. Past modules have included nutrition, child development, and pregnancy and reproductive health, and information about navigating the American healthcare system.

Collaborators and Funders

  • The Sound Justice Lab

  • CAELC

    Center for American English Language & Culture

  • The Peabody School

  • Madison House

  • The Karsh Institute of Democracy at UVA

  • Center for Global Inquiry And Innovation

    Ruth Young/Indar-Riyukhe Fund

  • International Family Medicine Clinic

  • The Jefferson Trust

  • UVA Parents Program

  • Bama Works Fund

  • Cavalier Marching Band

  • Fry Springs Beach Club

  • Wildrock

  • The Women's Initiative

  • Virginia Community Response Network

  • WTJU Radio

    UVA’s Community Radio Station

  • College of Arts and Sciences

    Description goes here

  • Center for Nonprofit Excellence

  • International Residential College

People

  • Aayusha Khanal is an undergraduate Batten student double majoring in Global Studies and Public Policy. She has worventions to better support them.ked as an Asylum Case Management Intern for Physicians for Human Rights and she began volunteering with the Sound Justice Lab in October of 2022 as an Afghan Women’s English Circle Leader for the Cville Tulips program.

  • Marjan Omranian is a graduate student in the UVa school of education and the inaugural Sound Justice fellow. A co-founder and co-director of C-ville Tulips; her research interests center the lived experience of Afghan women and on refugee education. She has worked with Afghan refugees in Charlottesville, Tehran and remotely in Afghanistan. Trained as an engineer, she looks forward to research projects that merge her varied interests.

  • a third-year Miller Arts Scholar, will coordinate volunteers and supervise arts activities for youth. She has extensive experience teaching dance and has worked for the Institute of Environmental Negotiation as a student intern and social media volunteer.

  • is a third year UVa student concentrating in Global Studies, Theater and Arts Administration and has been working with resettled communities since she was fifteen. She has worked extensively in youth theater.

  • is Academic Director of the Center for American English Language and Culture and Director and Founder of the MOVE and VISA’s programs, which serve over 1000 volunteers and language learners a semester. She served as a liaison between migrant families and the school system in Albemarle County.

  • founded the Arts Mentors and was a founding member of the Equity Center. She currently co-directs the new Sound Justice Lab and has extensive experience in Arts Engagement.

Cville Tulips Teens Host Radio Show on WXTJ 100.1 FM

A few times per year middle and high school students involved in Cville Tulips take to the airwaves to share some of their favorite songs with the public. The playlists include music by artists from Afghanistan, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Tajikistan, and even a little Taylor Swift.

Watch: Danait Haddish discusses Cville Tulips and Teen Radio Show on NBC 29!

Thank you to the UVA Parents Program for supporting this project!

Cville Tulips was honored to meet with the 2024 Mandela Fellows

The Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders brings accomplished innovators and leaders to the United States for six weeks to study civic engagement and share about their work. We hosted a panel on the theme of “Creative Activism” highlighting the work of Cville Tulips and PVCC’s Higher Education in Prison Program and we learned about a variety of programs from the fellows, including creativity in environmental activism in Ethiopia, international gender justice legal work in Nigeria, and programming for young refugees in Tanzania.

Thursday, July 11, 2024

  • Spring Gatherings took place on Sunday afternoons from 3:00 - 5:00pm on the following dates: 

    January 21 | February 4 | February 18 | February 25 | March 17 | March 31 | April 14 Eid Celebration | April 28 | May 12

  • Fall Gatherings took place on Sunday afternoons from 3:00 - 5:00pm on the following dates: 

    September 10 | September 24 | October 8 | October 22 | November 5 | November 19 | December 3

  • Summer Gatherings took place Wednesday evenings from 5:00 - 7:00pm on

    June 14 | June 21 | June 28 | July 5 | July 12 | July 19 | July 26 | August 2 | August 9     

    In early June, Fry’s Springs Beach Club hosted women-only swim classes for Cville Tulips.

    Cville Tulips met every other Sunday from January to May 2023 including a special Eid al-Fitr Celebration on Sunday, April 23rd.

  • Fall Programming: We gathered every other Sunday at Fry Springs Beach club for language learning, arts, conversation and food. Fall Programming ran October 2 - December 11th.

    Summer Programming We gathered on Tuesday Evenings on the University of Virginia Arts Grounds for movement, arts, and conversation. The programs ran from June 21 through August 9 from 5:30-7:30 pm.  Kids enjoyed nature-based activities with Wild Rock and women had the opportunity to explore exercise and creative expression. Our team included professional social workers and teachers as well as student volunteers and sound justice interns. 

    Weekly Gatherings in the hotels providing games and food for women and children.

    June 13 “Pool Day” for women and children at Fry’s Spring Beach Club, where there was swimming, henna, arts and crafts, and sports.

    June 4 Family picnic at Chris Greene Lake Park for the Afghan refugee families staying in hotels.

    May 26 “Women-Only Swim Party” at Fry’s Spring Beach Club.

    May 15 Second “Creative Connections” at Fry’s Spring Beach Club.

    April 23 “Creative Connections” at Fry’s Spring Beach Club, which was an event consisting of art and physical activities along with making connections and storytelling.

    April 10 Picnic for Afghan women and children in Washington Park.

    April 1 JMRL-Northside Library tour for Afghan women and children, where they also attended literacy events.

    March 19 Second “Spring Gathering” at Fry’s Spring Beach Club.

    March 10 “Spring Gathering” A welcome event for refugee women at Fry’s Spring Beach Club that included art, physical activities, making connections, and storytelling.

    February Distributed 80 bags of art supplies to Afghan children living in hotels.

    February Worked with Ragged Mountain Running Shop to allocate 50 pairs of shoes to Afghan children who had recently arrived in Charlottesville and enrolled in school.

For More Information Contact:

Bonnie Gordon - bsg6v@virginia.edu

Marjan Omranian - mj.omranian87@gmail.com