Women reach across the world to make international friends

Women from Russia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Bosnia, Brazil and the United States gathered around a table on a recent Thursday morning at Immanuel Baptist Church.

Mariya Afanaseva hugged the woman next to her.

“I call her Mommy,” Afanaseva said. “I’m from Russia. She’s from Jerusalem.”

For more than 40 years, Friendship International has been offering women from other countries friendship and help adjusting to life in Lexington. The women meet weekly in the fellowship hall at Immanuel Baptist Church, 3100 Tates Creek Road, during the school year.

Judy Metcalf, a past president of the organization, said the goal is to foster cross-cultural relationships, since isolation is a major concern for women arriving in the United States from other countries.

“They don’t speak the language. They don’t eat the same food,” and transportation is often a problem, she said.

Many of the women are stay-at-home mothers whose husbands are here working or studying at the University of Kentucky.

The group offers transportation and child care for attendees, who number about 200.

Metcalf said the majority of the international women who come to the group are not Christians.

The American volunteers who run the program share Christian messages during the programs about Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, and a Bible study class is among those offered, but they said their overall approach is one of friendship.

“We want those relationships to develop so there are opportunities for our women to share their faith,” said Jama Martin, president of the group. The group is nondenominational but receives financial support from several Baptist-affiliated groups. Metcalf said the international women are aware of the Christian viewpoint and can “sift out what you need to sift out.”

In addition to providing time for the women to chat together, the group offers a weekly program and then splits up into smaller classes. Offerings include everything from English as a second language to scrapbooking.

Afanaseva, who now lives in Georgetown, has been coming to Friendship International for two years and takes the line dancing classes offered there.

“I love country music,” she said, adding that she has formed lots of friendships through the group, too.

“I love this place,” she said.

Fabiane Xavier, who is originally from Brazil, said she began taking classes at Friendship International to improve her English skills.

Then, she said, “I started cooking class and I fell in love.” The women in that class take turns sharing cuisine from their homelands.

“I just got an address from a Japanese lady who invited me for brunch,” she said. “Isn’t that amazing?”

Participants include women of all ages and backgrounds. Some speak perfect English while others struggle.

Some attendees are in the United States for just six months or so, while others have lived here for decades and continue to find plenty to engage them at the group’s meetings, Metcalf said.

Christa Bingham, who is Chinese, said she joined the group when she retired from her job as a physician’s assistant and found herself with more time on her hands.

“I wanted to find something that was fun and also meaningful,” she said. “I like the fact that it’s not just Chinese. All different nationalities.”

She took a class on home repair and is now taking a course on world religions, she said.

On a recent Thursday morning, the women took a break from their weekly classes and held their annual Parade of Nations. Women from 38 countries were represented.

The women, many in traditional dress, came up on stage by nationality, showed off their country’s flags and answered questions posed by volunteer Stephanie Smith about life in their country of origin.

More than two dozen women from Japan took the stage in kimonos, explaining how their costumes would be worn at festivals in the summer.

A woman from Jordan wore a hijab and explained how Fridays in her country are holidays, and representatives from Hong Kong talked about how their country deals with population density.

“The more we get to know each other,” Smith said, “the more free we are to love and respect each other.”

For more information on the group, visit friendshiplex.weebly.com or email: friendshipint@gmail.com.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Women reach across the world to make international friends."