Miriam Elmasri and Rafiah Rahman shared information about Palestine during the VECC Multicultural Fair.
By NANETTE LoBIONDO GALLOWAY
VENTNOR – Fifth through eighth grade students at the Ventnor Educational Community Complex shared their cultural heritage with other students and visitors Tuesday during the school’s Multicultural Fair. Their efforts proved that the school is a microcosm of global migration.
Seventy-four students shared information they learned about 23 different countries around the world. The fair, now in its eighth year, invites students to participate on a voluntary basis, although some teachers award extra credits because the students do their projects after school or outside of class time. Some of the students picked countries they wanted to learn about, while many others chose to share their heritage.
Teacher Debbie Duff, who organizes the event, said it is “lovely” to have such a variety of cultures represented at the school.
“It’s so interesting to speak with them and their families and learn about their backgrounds,” Duff said.
Identical twins Elena and Grace Ware shared information about their personal heritage. Their family members hail from Ireland and Scotland.
“It was fun to do,” Elena said. “We learned fun things about Ireland.”
Grace said they learned about the island’s most popular holidays, including St. Patrick’s Day and the day after Halloween, All Saint’s Day.
Jonah Fuentes is of Columbian heritage and served up some empanadas, Pande queso, coffee candies and lollipops.
Wearing kimonos, Elijah Chort and Brogan Tripician shared information about Japan.
“It’s one of our countries of interest that we would both like to visit someday,” Elijah said.
Their culinary dish was edamame.
Eishana Desai and Anabel Chairman served dulce de leche wafers from Argentina.
Miriam Elmasri and Fariah Rahman teamed up to share information about Palestine. Miriam’s dad is from Palestine and her mom is from Kuwait, she said, while Fariah’s family is from Bangladesh. They served Musakhan, which is chicken, onion and spices rolled up in bread.
At the next station was Sasmita Edla, who is of Indian descent, and Nuha Choudhury, whose family is from Bangladesh. They made two versions of samosas, one with potatoes and the other with vegetables. The tiny morsels held a lingering warm spice at the back of the tongue.
Another spicy dish to be shared was Layla Eugene’s black rice dish from Haiti. Her parents and grandparents hail from Haiti, which she noted is the poorest country in the Carribbean. The dish is called diri djon djon in Creole, which is one of the languages of Haiti. The other is French, she said, and with English, she is trilingual.
“I visited Haiti three times already,” she said. “Although it’s a poor country, the people are very family oriented. They showed me around the town and educated me about the country.”
Viviana Sanchez, who is of Peruvian descent, and Janessa Mercado served up Causa Limeña, which they said is a popular dish that can be found on most tables during parties, weddings and other special events. It was much like an American potato salad made with tuna, red peppers, onions and mayonnaise.
Along with the homemade pretzels he conjured up last night, Max Hoban included a quiz about the country of Germany at his table. The answers to the questions revealed the country’s economy, products, exports and religions.
“The most interesting thing I learned was finding out about their education system,” the son of two high school teachers said. “In Germany, all the citizens can get their higher education without having to pay a lot of money.”
Ave Doran and her partner Jai’Lynn Gomez said their families both hail from the Philippines.
“I’m going there in March,” Ave said. “It’s my grandmother’s birthday and we are taking her there to see her brothers and sisters.”
Students from various classrooms were brought into the small gym to learn about the cultures represented and enjoy samplings of international cuisines. They sat on the floor in small groups enjoying the food, some of which they had never tasted before.
The event helped the students learn that despite differences, all children around the world are the same – eager to learn about the world they live in.
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