by Maureen Murugi Smith
Zdravka Nikolova Karapetrova is an immigrant from Bulgaria who has been living in Philadelphia for the past 6 years. She worked for 35 years in a bank in her country and is currently happily retired. Zdravka has dedicated the past 10 years in supporting her daughters, one who lives in London and the second in Philadelphia with her children. Zdravka came to Philadelphia to be with her daughter and grandchildren whom she adores and spends time with. She highly values her family and teaching her grandchildren about Bulgarian culture, and it has been a joy for her to hear them talk Bulgarian as they also learn English.
Zdravka, remembers attending ESL classes around 3-4 years ago at The Welcoming Center and was sad when the classes ended. She found the classes quite useful in helping her learn English and begin the process of overcoming a barrier that is common to immigrants in the US. She has had a great desire to learn English and she was very happy in the Spring of 2020 when Manuel Portillo, the Dir. of Community Engagement invited her to join Let’s Talk Philly Conversation Circles as they were launching their first round of English conversation circles.
Zdravka recalls that it was a bit stressful at the beginning since she was an English learner and was very shy. She fondly recalls that Karen Cervera, co-founder of Let’s Talk Philly Conversation Circles was very polite and motivating and encouraging to the participants in the circle. Zdravka found this experience very interesting and helpful and wanted to continue being in the conversation circles and joined the second round of circles that began in early fall of 2020.
She found more encouragement in the second round of the conversation circles where the facilitators Karen Cervera and Amel Kherbachene from Algeria made it comfortable for her to be able to speak and share. Zdravka tried to speak and for the first time was able to feel comfortable to begin talking with other participants who were very good in the circle. She was still worried about speaking with native English speakers but now she can understand native speakers better and feel more comfortable
During the second round of the circle, she felt her confidence grow and when she heard Yushan Chou, Let’s Talk PHilly Conversation Circle Co-founder talk about the Intercultural Wellness Program she was motivated to join the 2nd Cohort in February 2021. Zdravka found the program amazing for her, and she had a wonderful team with her team members Hadjila Ait Alioua from Algeria and Jiuen Kim from South Korea who were very hardworking and built a great team together as they held meetings to develop their action project. Zdravka learnt new words and expressions, how to be part of a team and fondly remembers gaining the confidence to even communicate in her team. One moment of achievement was gaining the confidence to communicate in the team group text on WhatsApp, something that was new to her and that was a great achievement for her.
Zdravka leant a lot during the program and was able to navigate different challenges, overcoming challenging moments and going on even when it was difficult and not giving up. Being part of her team that was able to develop a very successful Wellness project called “Beyond Cultural Shock”.
She then decided to join the Immigrant Leadership Institute in September 2020 and was part of a team where they decided to create an Action Project called “Confidence in speaking and Learning English”. Through working together with the team, Zdravka appreciated that she was part of a good team and despite the busy schedules that the team members had to work through, she saw the goodness in her team. She had the desire to do more in the team while being a source of encouragement.
Zdravka is very grateful of how Let’s Talk Philly Conversation Circles has been a space that has supported her extremely. It has been a safe space where she has improved her confidence in speaking English, connecting with friends and developing a sense of wellness. She is now able to speak more confidently with people and share ideas. She has learned how to listen to others and support them while developing leadership skills. Let’s Talk Philly has connected her to the community, The Welcoming Center and has helped her develop a sense of connection and belonging.
