Oct. 6—BLUEFIELD — The City of Bluefield and Bluefield State University are joining forces for the first time to host the UN (United Nations) Celebration on Saturday, Oct. 22.
The university’s International Student Organization (ISO) is working with the city on planning the event for Chicory Square.
On Wednesday morning, BSU Office of International Initiatives Coordinator Professor Sudhakar Jamkhandi, City Manager Cecil Marson and officers with the ISO met at City Hall to discuss the project.
Jamkhandi said BSU has hosted the celebration for several years, but this joint effort between the ISO, BSU and the city to celebrate UN Day is the first in the state.
The celebration will be held at Chicory Square from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and feature food from the various countries as well as other cultural features.
“For this event we wish not only to showcase the different countries represented by all of our international students, and we hope to have at least 15 to 20 countries’ cuisines featured, we also invite anybody in the community to share their cuisine,” Jamkhandi said. “We hope there will not only be food but plenty of colorful clothing and wonderful music that will entertain everybody who is present.”
The event is a fundraiser for the ISO, he said, and students from other universities are invited to participate as well.
“I am super excited,” said Marson. “Some of our international students at Bluefield State University are our best athletes and some are our best scholars. I have been the beneficiary of being overseas quite a bit and I was treated very well as an American. I think it’s really important for Bluefield and for West Virginia to do the same for our international students.”
Marson said it is not easy for these students to travel overseas for school.
“It is a big challenge to leave your home and go to another country to study,” he said. “You miss things from home and if there is anything we can do to make it nicer for our international students I think it’s absolutely wonderful.”
Marson said the community will also benefit from their “great food and culture that we don’t get to see very often.”
“One of the best things about Bluefield is we are very welcoming,” he said. “We owe these international students a lot for coming here and getting educated with us and teaching us as well.”
The fundraiser will be a great event, he said, and help provide the funds for the students to travel to Washington D.C. “to see our great Capital” and other important American sites.
“I am honored they stepped up to do it for the city and I think it’s a great example for the rest of West Virginia,” he said. “I am pumped. I think it’s pretty awesome.”
Juliana Gomez Jimenez, ISO treasurer, is from Bogota, Colombia and a sophomore.
“We feel really honored to be part of this community and be supported by Bluefield State University and City of Bluefield,” she said. “We have worked really hard … to make this event happen.”
Jimenez said she hopes many people will attend the event and show support.
Virginia Zanotti, ISO president, is a sophomore from Argentina and said she looks forward to the opportunity to share things from her country with the community.
Zanotti said that includes food as well as cultural aspects.
Juan De Frietas, ISO vice president, a senior from Uruguay, said the city has been great in supporting the event, which gives students the opportunity to share their countries.
“It’s always good to be home and try to have home as close as we can,” he said. “So showing our culture to this community is always a good thing.”
Selina Poljak, is an international student study abroad as an ambassador from Germany.
“I want to bring the culture from Germany here,” she said of the event and as part of her goal as an exchange student ambassador (75 German students is this country and 75 American students in Germany). “We are trying to exchange cultures, we are trying to represent our home country.”
Poljak said she will also prepare food for the event and it is something she is looking forward to doing.
Mohammed Bouknify is a Fulbright Scholar at the university and teaches Arabic as well as take classes.
Bouknify, who is from Morocco, said he is “delighted to be a part of this group.”
“It’s just amazing to be a part of it,” he said. “It’s amazing to bring this diversity into one community to share things because diversity makes life beautiful.”
Bouknify said he looks forward to share Morocco and its cultural components, and it’s important to share each other’s culture.
Jimenez said one of the biggest draws for the event will be food, but she is not yet sure what she will prepare.
Jamkhandi said he hopes local grocery stores will help out with the event by providing the ingredients needed for the international cuisine.
“Hopefully, we will have good participation,” he said, and much of the food that will be available for those who attend may be dishes they have never before tasted. “This, we hope, will allow us to appreciate folks from different countries and to keep our arms open, to keep on welcoming them.”
“It will be a diverse menu, which is very exciting,” Marson said.
Jamkhandi said there will be small charge for the food samples to raise funds.
Marson said part of Raleigh Street beside Chicory Square will be closed for the event and tents will be set up in the area.
“The idea is to promote peace and understanding,” Jamkhandi said. “If we can show that we live here in a very harmonious manner … this is not just how we can open up our eyes and minds but also our hearts. Living harmoniously is not easy, but trying to do so is certainly a worthy endeavor. It is up to us then to try to live as harmoniously as we can because it is very easy to go to war and we all know that. But how do you co-exist? That is what life is all about and we hope that through this endeavor Bluefield will show that, yes, we can have folks from all over the world, from all over the United States, and we all exist peacefully and enjoy each other for who we are.”
— Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com
Contact Charles Boothe at cboothe@bdtonline.com
