By Kimani Nyambura
Northwest University’s International Education Week is back again and is running from Nov. 13-Nov. 17. Multicultural Organization and Students Active in Christ (MOSAIC), along with the International Student Services (ISS), are organizing events to bring different cultural experiences to campus.
The International Education Week is a state-wide recognized program in the United States, and campuses are encouraged to support various programs that are geared toward international cultural experiences.
As part of the intercultural events that NU will be holding, MOSAIC is leading a project called “Letters to Home,” where international students, or students who have family abroad, can write letters in their native languages and address them to their loved ones. The project will be bringing the aspect of immigration, and integrate it with letter writing—a form of communication that a lot of immigrants use to communicate with their loved ones when they got to the U.S.
MOSAIC’s chairperson, Jelsy Gundao, believes the project will create a sense of commonality among students.
“We want to convey the message that we can all come from different areas and different countries but yet we still have this commonality of being away from the people that we love,” she said.
The letters written are now on display in the Pecota Student Lounge and are accompanied by a timeline showing the development of letter writing and how it has changed over time.
“We are using this old form of communication to show that you [students] can relate to them [international students] as well because you can’t really do that with how we communicate now which is media and texting…we’re using a tangible old form of communication which is letter writing to show that how you still have a commonality with them even though they’re from a completely different culture that you’ve probably never stepped foot into,” Gundao said.
On Tuesday, NU will host a movie and Q&A night from 7:30-9:30 p.m. in Hurst 105. The film, “A Small Act,” will be featured as it illustrates the significance small acts of kindness on others.
In addition, MOSAIC will be hosting a Courageous Conversations on Wednesday, featuring stories from CELE and international students. These students will talk about their experiences at NU and their general experiences being abroad.
A Cross-Cultural approach to dance event will be hosted in Hurst 105 from 7:30-9:00 p.m. on Thursday. The event will offer students the opportunity to learn Chinese and Israeli dances and how dance can influence cross-cultural understanding.
For the conclusion of International Education Week, a culture fair will be held on Friday in the HSC Fireside from 3:00-5:00 p.m. The culture fair will exhibit food from around the world, Chinese calligraphy, ping pong and chopstick competitions, along with other international games.
