Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow
Raihana Asadullah was born in Russia, though her parents are from Afghanistan, and wasn't even 2 years old when her family moved to Arizona.
“Russia was really cold. They wanted somewhere warm,” said the Grand Canyon University elementary education major with a smile.
She’s never been to her family's homeland, and yet, the Afghan culture permeates her home.
“I don’t speak any English at home,” she said, pointing to the graceful swoops and sweeps and loops of Farsi written by her mother on her all-about-Afghanistan poster board at Wednesday night’s Culture Fest. It's one of the events the Multicultural Office has organized for Culture Week.
Her poster board includes images of places she’s never been: Bamiyan, where displaced Afghans live in ancient caves carved into the side of the Bamyan cliffs, and Nuristan, “which looks like Flagstaff,” she said, directioning visitors to an image of towering mountainsides that are the southern slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains.
Asadullah represented her culture well at the festival, this year percolating from the Riverbed, which was buzzing with students representing various nations at almost 30 different tables. The event also included brief table talks with students who shared their cultural experiences and an international buffet of food that included everything from flan to spinach-and-feta-stuffed spanakopita.
“All these tables that are here are cultures represented by the student body,” said Zach Broussely, Multicultural Office manager. “We want students to be aware there’s so much cultural diversity here on our campus.”
For Asadullah, who donned an Afghan headdress, culture is everything.
And for her poster, she took a picture, not from the internet, but from home of one of the dishes her mother cooked called kabuli. It's a rice dish typically made with raisins, nuts, lamb, onions and carrots.
One day, Asadullah hopes to visit Afghanistan, but because of the political climate there and armed conflict, it’s not safe to visit.
So for now, she concentrates on her studies at GCU, which includes a minor in Spanish.
“... Girls in Afghanistan aren’t allowed to go to school,” Asadullah said of girls ages 12 and older. “… I’m thankful to be in this country and continue my education.”
Education, she said, “is our most powerful weapon.”
Next to her table at Culture Fest, Jennalyn Cachin, a nursing sophomore, offers students samples of Filipino steamed rice cakes, called puto, as well as bibingka, a coconut-flavored rice cake topped with caramelized coconut strips.
“It (the babingka) has a more smokey flavor,” said Cachin, whose display also included Filipino pineapple cloth called piña (it means pineapple). The fabric is made using pineapple fibers.
Like Asadullah, Cachin speaks and hears another language besides English when she's at home. Her mom speaks Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines, along with English. It's one of 120 languages spoken there.
“My mom is an anchor for the Filipino culture,” Cachin said. “She makes the food."
Business management senior Tehya Thome represented the culture of Hawaii at the festival, teaching fellow GCU students how to make leis from the ti leaf, which comes from the islands’ canoe plant. The leaves represent protection, good luck and purification and often are used to make skirts and leis.
“We use it a lot for celebrations,” said Thome, who learned to make ti leaf leis at Kamehameha Schools, a private school system that preserves the culture, language and practices of Hawaii.
Thome is the Multicultural Office’s marketing coordinator. She said, “I thought it was a good opportunity to connect with other students."
Thi Nguyen, a computer science junior, connected with her fellow students via Vietnamese coffee, which festival visitors sampled at her table.
Vietnamese coffee is known for its robusta coffee beans, which make for a strong, bold flavor that’s different from coffee made with arabica beans. And here’s another variation: egg coffee, which includes egg yolks, sugar, condensed milk and robusta coffee. It’s foamier, Nguyen said.
“Coffee is a staple in our culture,” she added. “Everyone (in Vietnam) drinks coffee. We have a lot of cafes everywhere.”
She said it’s a way Vietnamese people bond.
When you want to be social you just ask, “Do you want to go grab coffee?” Nguyen said. “It’s a reason for everyone to hang out.”
Broussely said Culture Fest isn’t just about exposing students to the university’s diverse cultures – more than 90 different cultures and nations are represented in the student body – but also to educate students about the Multicultural Office.
The office includes the Multicultural Lounge on the first floor of Kaibab (Building 25), where everyone is welcome to hang out, and presents events like Taste of the World, which are Friday foodie lunches featuring international foods, as well as social events and festivals.
Before the year wraps up, the Multicultural Office will roll out Pasifika Fest April 9 on the Quad, a luau event that will celebrate the Polynesian culture.
Nguyen, meanwhile, just celebrated Lunar New Year with her family. Her mom cooked Vietnamese food.
“Food is what connects us the most,” she said.
And Asadullah is getting ready for nowruz (meaning “new day”), or Persian New Year, which begins on the spring equinox and lasts for 13 days.
Although she’s never been to her homeland of Afghanistan, don’t doubt that her family will celebrate. She’s connected to culture, like everyone was at Culture Fest.
Manager of Internal Communications Lana Sweeten-Shults can be reached at lana.sweeten-shults@gcu.edu or at 602-639-7901.
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