Global Family,
It's been almost a month since the 2024-2025 school year started and I am so happy to be part of the Columbus Global Academy experience. I love being the Family Ambassador for Global! I get to meet families from all over the world. I get to see teachers who are passionate about making sure all of the students are ready to conquer the world!
If you have the time, I'd like to share a story with you. I came to the USA from Tanzania when I was three years old. I didn't know ANY ENGLISH.
I barely knew any Swahili either because I was still a baby.
I learned a lot of English from watching television. Back in those days, there were commercials or ads on TV that you could not skip. One commercial really caught my eye. It was an ad for a candy that I had never seen before (perhaps that isn't saying much given that I was only 3), and it seemed very exciting with all the colors and happiness it seemed to give the people eating it. So, I asked my father to get this magical candy for me.
"What is the name of the candy?" he asked me.
"Youbetchalesafat." I'd say.
"What?"
"Youbetchalesafat." I thought I was being very clear, but he didn't know which candy I was talking about. After a few days of begging him to buy me this candy, and him not knowing what I was talking about, he decided to take me to the store so I could pick it out for myself.
At the store, we couldn't find it. We went up and down the aisles, and Youbetchalesafat was no where to be found! Finally my father asked an employee for help and if he knew where we could find this thing called youbetchalesafat.
The employee had no clue. The employee did not know what I was talking about.
And that really discouraged me and made me sad because the employee didn't know where it was or more importantly WHAT it was. Would I ever find youbetchalesafat?
My father had done his best to look for what I wanted. A new immigrant himself, many things in the USA were very different and new to him as well. As we headed to the cashier to pay for some other items we had picked up during our search, and guess what I saw?! I saw the youbetchalesafat placed with all the candies by the cashiers. In between all the gum, mints and hard candies, I pointed out youbetchalesafat to my father. He put it in his hand and looked at it. Then he looked at me and asked if I was sure that this was the candy we had been searching for. He didn't see YOUBETCHALESAFAT written on it. Instead, the candy said 'LIFESAVERS. I nodded and grabbed it with so much excitement that we found youbetchalesafat, the tagline they used in the commercials was:
"You bet your lifesavers!" which for me sounded like YOU BETCHA LESAFAT!
I share this story because it's a special memory I have of my father. May he rest in peace, my father passed away last year and sharing our stories is a way I like to remember him.
I share this story because when I was new to this country, I had to learn a lot in a very short period of time, maybe the same as some people in our Global community, It wasn't easy. Day by day and slowly but surely I started to learn how to communicate and live in my new world.
I also share this story because I see myself in Global students and I understand what some Global families might be experiencing in a new environment, with a new language. Being at Global is like looking at a mirror of my past and a future filled with brilliant students who will make this world incredible!
