Photos by Ralph Friso / Slideshow
Nadia Fernando She wore a traditional sari and talked with fellow Grand Canyon University students about her parents' home country, Sri Lanka.
Some facts about the country:
- The Lipton Tea Company was founded there in 1890 by Glasgow-born grocer Sir Thomas Lipton, who bought 5,500 acres of the Damptine Tea Estate in the Highlands and began exporting it to the UK.
- It was once called Ceylon.
- Sri Lanka was colonized by the Portuguese in 1505, then the Dutch in 1658 and the British in 1796. The country gained independence in 1948.
- Because of its shape and location in southern India, it is known as the “Teardrop of India”.
If there was one thing Nadia wanted everyone to know about Sri Lanka, it was: “Just that it exists.” “This would be a great start,” the early childhood/special education major said at Wednesday night’s Culture Fest, the multicultural office’s signature event. On campus and highlights of Culture Week. “A lot of people don't know a lot of places outside of America.”
The Culture Festival is designed to counter this unfamiliarity. By the time the students made their way around the second floor lobby of the Global Credit Union Arena, they had learned more about their fellow students and the countries they were from.
“It's just a good experience,” Nadia said.
Senior biology major Jazlyn FernandoThe Multicultural Office Marketing Coordinator invited Nadia to speak about Sri Lankan culture at one of about 40 tables at the event representing different countries.
Jazlyn came to India at last year's festival and performed a dance.
She doesn't like when people confuse her with being from a different country, although she realizes that not everyone has that kind of world view.
What she loves about the Culture Festival is “being able to show your culture.” Just for people to show interest and ask where she's from, she said: “It meant a lot. It made me feel represented, like I was taking up a space in a diverse bowl.”
More than 90 different cultures and countries are represented in GCU's student body, of which 47% are people of color, according to the 2021 GCU Statement.
The Office of Multiculturalism wanted to showcase this at the Culture Festival, which featured not only culturally diverse booths and food, but also performances — everything from Hawaiian and Filipino dances to Canadian songs.
Attendees can also head to the Malaysian table for a quick henna tattoo Hannah Trescotta senior in elementary education/special education and a multicultural office student leader.
Although she is not Malaysian, Trescott has lived in the country for seven years with her family. Her parents are both teachers who taught at an international school there. She wants to do the same when she graduates in April.
“It's great to share more of the world and bring another culture to life,” said Trescott, who has been involved with the Culture Festival for three years. But what's cooler? “It's being able to share more about who God is. He made the world. … It's my number one goal (to share God's heart).”
Mathematics for the second year of secondary school Vanessa Omondi From Kenya, she decided to apply to GCU because her uncle, who attended the university, suggested it as her option.
“It was a big shock” coming to the United States from Nairobi, she said.
But she made a group of friends on campus who were also from Kenya and felt at home here.
Omondi spoke enthusiastically about Lake Turkana in Kenya's Rift Valley. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake.
“We don't have four seasons. We only have a dry season and a rainy season, and we're known for our long-distance runners,” she said of the country, which has 42 ethnic groups.
She also explained the “Hakuna Matata” saying that became popular in the movie “The Lion King.”
“It means don't worry. If we can't do anything about it, we'll leave it aside,” she said of her Kenyan colleagues, smiling.
What's important about the event for her is that “this is a way to bring people to our country” — to introduce them to Kenya even though they're not physically there.
A second-year student majoring in biology Elisa Santos He performed a traditional Filipino folk dance called Binaswan. She gingerly balanced glasses of pink water on her head and on her hands as she twisted and turned her hands while dancing.
It was a poetry of balance.
Santos learned the dance as a member of a Filipino club and wasn't sure she wanted to perform it. The idea of dropping glass? Nerve-wracking. But she managed it.
“It's very cool,” she said of the culture festival. “The tables are very creative.”
Ezekiel Morenoa graduate government/legal studies major and student director in the Office of Multiculturalism, heads the table representing Canada.
He comes from a diverse family. His father is from Mexico and his grandparents are French Canadians.
Moreno was thrilled to showcase some popular Canadian snacks, like Lay's ketchup-flavored potato chips. His family sent him a lot of bags to help him get through those difficult days at GCU.
He talked about poutine, a popular Canadian dish made with French fries and cheese curds covered in gravy.
“I grew up in California in a multicultural family. I had a Spanish-speaking family and an English-speaking family. It affected me as a person, which is why I joined the Office of Multiculturalism.”
The Student Coordinator has a Multicultural Office Eugene Billingsa marketing/advertising senior, said the most important thing about Culture Fest is educating others about the diversity of the campus and “making everyone feel valued and providing a home away from home for students.”
The Multicultural Office's next event will be Ho'olaule'a (meaning festival) on April 9 to showcase Hawaiian and Pacific Islander culture.
Internal Communications Director Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at [email protected] Or at 602-639-7901.
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