Gathering to celebrate different worlds

By Kathy Feist

It was 400 years ago when Native Americans shared a feast with a group of foreigners unfamiliar with their land and customs. 

Something similar happened at Compass Elementary School in the Hickman Mills School District on a Wednesday evening, November 15. 

Hundreds of people from different cultures arrived at World Cultures Family Night to partake in a large smorgasbord of home cooked international cuisine and appreciate students’ displays of the global community. 

“World Cultures Family Night is an opportunity for our community to come together, celebrate our differences, and learn from one another,” said Swapnam Kumar, Specialist for the English Language Department which organizes the event. 

There are 564 students from over 30 different countries enrolled in the Hickman Mills English as a Second Language (ESL) program. For this particular night, students grouped by schools created displays, art projects and presentations about a chosen country. Written memories of their native countries also were included.

The displays representing countries as diverse as Mexico, Ukraine, Sudan, Philippines lined half the perimeter of the auditorium. Large poster boards strewn with cutout pictures showcased landmarks, food, attire, currency and other distinguishing aspects of different countries.  

“This global village models what we want our kids to see,” says Superintendent Yaw Obeng. “Despite our multiple languages and multiple ethnicities, we are one people, really.” 

The ELD’s stated goal is to enhance cultural awareness and appreciation among attendees. But for many, it was a night of shared camaraderie. 

The language of food spoke loudest.

Colorful rice-based dishes flooded with sauce and bits of meats and vegetables, lentils and beans bursting with fragrant spices, homemade flatbreads, light and airy cake bread, sticky desserts with very little sugar–all uncommon to the American culture–were a feast to the eyes and palette. For those with less adventurous tastes, there were slices of delivered pizza piled high in boxes. 

When two young girls stepped into the auditorium, cameras began clicking. Alexia and Jamel arrived in traditional attire from Honduras, their native home. The indigenous dresses featured embroidered beadwork, feathered headpieces and homemade shields. 

Many students and staff dressed in colorful traditional clothing. Lana Sawas, who translates Arabic for over 100 students, wore a long red and black Moroccan tunic with matching headband. She helped with the Truman Elementary School display which featured Saudi Arabia. 

At another display by ELD students from Dobbs Elementary School, Kindergarten teacher Dina Mansi helped present the countries of their choosing: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria. The display also featured bread from around the world. Included were packages of pita bread freshly made by Mansi’s father, Jamal Mansi, owner of the Olive Cafe. 

Russell Triplett proudly displayed his ESL students’ painted maracas in their Mexico display. He teaches Kindergarten through 3rd Grade students. With that young age group, social language is taught first and then academic language, he explained. “But most of it they pick up from their peers,” he added. 

There are over a thousand international students who are not enrolled in the ELS program, according to Kumar who oversees the department. Students are in the program for four years regardless of age.  

Jed Varick, an ELS teacher at Ruskin High School, said there are 35 students enrolled in the program at the high school level. Photos of the past graduates filled the Ruskin display.

After 45 minutes, the event was winding down. All tables in the auditorium were full as strangers sat with each other and conversed over their meals. Children squealed as they chased each other through the auditorium before staff intervened. Visitors with full stomachs took their time peering at the students’ colorful displays. Families proudly posed for pictures near their child’s hard-earned research. And while there was still a tower of pizza still in boxes, the rest of the food had diminished, most of it gone. 

It was a larger turnout than expected. Kumar, who is Pakistanian, stood in the middle of the auditorium eyeballing the activity with an irrepressible smile on her face. “Tonight is very successful,” she declares. The event had achieved its goal.