Know the scoop or have a lead? Contact the editor at news@theotherpress.ca

 

 

a

r
&
i

a

International Day marked with enthusiasm

David Lam event
cancelled due to lack
of participation

By Glauce Fleury, Contributor

tudents and staff

members learned a lot
about world cultures last
week without leaving the
familiarity of the college as
Douglife’s International Day
celebrated diversity at the
New Westminster campus.
Enthusiastic was the recurrent
word to describe the big party,
where more than 100 volunteers
celebrated world culture with
exhibitions of dance, song,
cuisine, and lifestyle.

“It was awesome to see

the booths so decorated and
students involved. The event
was successful, better than I
expected,” said Mehrnaz Kobari,
International Student Advisor in
charge of the many booths that
temporarily occupied the New
Westminster concourse.

4

The International Day was
scheduled to happen at David
Lam campus on January 31,
but it was canceled. According
to Kobari, the event depends
basically on volunteers. “We
tried to get students from
that campus involved, but
we couldn't,” said Kobari,
mentioning that nobody showed
up for the meeting. To Scott
Fraser-Dauphinee, Campus
Life Coordinator, promoting

don’t run activities daily, like it
happens in New Westminster.

“When there’s a community
feeling, students tend to gather
more. When there's not, they
come to campus and then go
home,” Schachner said. Despite
her reflection, she believes
in changes. “We had more
volunteers this year, so a better
culture is starting.”

According to Fraser-
Dauphinee, the Coffee and Tea

The volunteers represented
their culture as best as they
could, maybe remembering
there was a competition: visitors
were asked to vote for the best
booth, and Latin America was
the most voted. “I never thought
of winning. When we're really
passionate about our country,
we feel like doing things,” said
the Colombian Catalina Canon.
“It was my best experience here.
I really enjoyed it.”

It was sucha good feeling to represent my culture, she said. 1 was
surprised with some students knowledge because some of them
knew greetings in Persian.

the event in Coquitlam was
challenging. “We're trying to
address changes so students
get involved,” he said. Anna
Schachner, Campus Life
Coordinator in David Lam
campus, noted it was hard to
recruit students there because
there’s no social space. Another
aspect is some departments

House was busy the whole day
and the performances scheduled
with no breaks flowed really
well. “The senior management
team was there, proud of what
students were doing,” he said.
“These students put more effort
and energy in this year, and
made the event more engaging
and interacting.”

Alina Alimbetova,
a Douglas student, also
volunteered last year. “A
Kazakhstan Society had just
opened in Canada, so we
wanted to let people know
more about our lifestyle to see
how open-minded we are,”
said Alimbetova. Alimbetova
said that she met a lot of people

Photo courtesy of Glauce Fleury

because of the event, and this
year she didn’t want to be

aside. “I enjoyed more this year,
especially because we had more
Latins and I’m very interested in
their culture.”

Iranian Mojgan
Shirmohammadi started
studying at Douglas on January
2012, but this was her first
time volunteering for the
International Day. “It was such
a good feeling to represent
my culture,” she said. “I was
surprised with some students’
knowledge because some
of them knew greetings in
Persian.”

Being three years out
from Brazil, Bruno Aronis says
he had a lot of fun talking to
people and playing cavaquinho,
an important instrument in
Brazilian music. “I had no idea
about what the event was, but
after the first meeting I realized
how fun it would be,” he says.
He was also surprised about
people’s knowledge about
Brazil. “Most of them knew the
Capital is Brasilia and that we
speak Portuguese.”