Some learned English as a second language. Some are former refugees just hearing English for the first time. The FACE Project (Friendships Across Charlotte Ethnicities), the brainchild of Amber Schrenkel, brings together elementary school students in a fun social setting, in hopes of stimulating new friendships.
The idea is to help kids look past their differences and focus on a common experience. A Crossroads Charlotte A.C.T. (Achieving Community Today) project winner, the FACE Project took the kids ice skating and the result was pure magic.
Inside Northwest School of the Arts on Dec. 3, Anish Bhatt of Queen City Bhangra Academy played the drums as a welcome to the finale for Many Cultures One Community.
Many Cultures One Community was a 30-day series of community-wide events and workshops to build trust across ethnic, racial and cultural differences. The Dec. 3 event drew about 175 people from organizations such as Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center as well as local service providers and community members.
During the event Crossroads Charlotte and Mecklenburg Area Partnership for Primary-care Research (MAPPR) unveiled The Mecklenburg Access Portal (The MAP). The MAP is a web-based resource directory for healthcare and social service providers to access information and resources. The portal will link the IRAI (Immigrant, Refugee, Asylee and International) communities to much needed services and link service providers to underserved populations.
In a small building tucked off Sharon Amity Road, dozens of refugees from Bhutan and elsewhere crammed into a small room inside the Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center.
Some wore flip-flops although it was cold enough to see your breath outside. Others were hungry after a long day of classes and little to eat. Yet, it wasn't the lack of warm shoes or even the hunger that bothers them – it was the lack of help. They were refugees fleeing countries such as Somalia, Vietnam and Bhurma. They wanted help, not hand-outs.
It was a refrain participants of Crossroads Charlotte's In Our Own Backyard: A Community Tour Through a World of Cultures bus tour heard often Thursday night. The tour exposed participants to organizations and agencies that help Charlotte’s Immigrant, Refugee, Asylee and International (IRAI) communities. The tour was part of the monthlong Many Cultures, One Community initiative.
Along with a stop at the Neighborhood Good Samaritan Center, the tour visited the Carolina Refugee Resettlement Agency on Monroe Road and ended at the Hindu Center off of Independence Boulevard.
One UNC Charlotte intern from Japan said the tour exposed her to diversity and the challenges people face. She said she doesn’t see a lot of diversity in Japan.
NOTE: The English translation of this post can be found after the Spanish version.
Thanksgiving Day es una celebración típica estadounidense, pero los latinoamericanos la hemos adoptado – y adaptado – con respeto y fidelidad:
CLARA D’TAPIERO y ANGELO CRUZ (Colombia)
Mi primer Thanksgiving fue hace 16 años, cuando unos amigos nos invitaron a su casa y lo que más me sorprendió fue el tamaño tan grande del pavo sobre la mesa; en Colombia tenemos el concepto del “pollito asado” así que para mí fue una novedad.
Yo desde hace 4 años, agradezco la dicha de tener a mi hijo, al que tanto esperaba y que nació un 26 de noviembre. El agradecimiento es una palabra muy grande y nos da la oportunidad de agradecer de corazón todo lo que hemos tenido durante el año.
Nos reunimos de 3 a 5 familias, es una fiesta muy agradable, es algo que se contagia.
La oración antes de la comida la inicia mi esposo y después cada uno, dice algo alusivo. La cena consiste en el pavo más grande que me encuentre; salsa de arándanos mezclada con guayaba y BBQ sauce; ensalada de papa con remolacha; verduras al vapor con vinagreta y de postre “cake” de calabaza y por supuesto, una de mis gelatinas artísticas.
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Posted: November 21st, 2011 Lucila Ruvalcaba
