UNCG hosts 28th annual International Festival

 The 28th annual International Festival kicked off at noon this past Saturday with plenty of people from UNCG and the community in attendance.  Every year organizers from the International Programs Center and the International Student Association (ISA) put together the festival in order to celebrate the diversity of the world and the beauty that cultures have to offer.  With more than 40 booths set up around the Fountain Area representing the “Global Village”, attendants of I-Fest could enjoy learning about each country while sampling food from around the world.  Cynthia Marts, a senior at UNCG, said that enjoying the food at I-Fest is one of her favorite aspects of coming to the event.  “The cinnamon tea from the Korea booth is my absolute favorite.  I also love the couscous from Turkey, the Spanish fried plantains, and many of the Mexican dishes.  I come every year because I love seeing all the booths and I’m hoping that if I stay in the Greensboro area after I graduate that I will be able to come back again next year,” she said.  Other cultural booths included Colombia, Brazil, Japan, Bulgaria, Scotland, Russia, and Nigeria, just to name a few.

At the Colombia booth, organizers put out a display of a wide variety of the traditional jewelry and figurines.  At one of the Mexico booths, traditional garments were hanging up for people to admire while at India (Yuva), some women were offering free henna designs for anyone interested.  Graduate student Kyle Elekwa said that the Ecuador booth was his favorite, mainly because it was being run by Health and Human Performance, a center on campus he works for.  “While I like coming to the International Festival because I get to enjoy it with friends, I also think it is a great way to promote study abroad.  HHP gets to travel to countries like China, Mexico, Ecuador, and Zambia and having our booth here helps get people interested in visiting other countries,” said Elekwa.  Most of the countries offered free travel books so people passing by could learn more about that particular region.  This year though, an extra booth was added to help raise money and awareness for a different cause.  Organizers from ISA sold I-Fest t-shirts to help raise money for the victims of the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile.  Proceeds from the t-shirt sales will go straight to the victims who need it most to help rebuild homes and supply food and water.    
In addition to the wide variety of cultural booths, I-Fest also hosted different performances throughout the day.  Attendees of the festival enjoyed performances of the traditional Ritmos Peruanos from Peru, traditional Nepal dance, Chinese folk dances, belly dancing by the Dance House of Daliana, a Turkish folk dance, traditional dance from India, a Japanese Earth Spirits Taiko, and the musical stylings of UNCG’s own Spartones.  Performers from each country showed off several dance numbers wearing elaborate and traditional clothing.  For the Chinese folk dances, girls ranging in age from five to nine wore bright green and pink kimonos, and the belly dancers wore bright, spring-like colors for their harem pants, tops and hip scarves.

Ten Thousand Villages, a Greensboro organization, was also set up for the International Festival, selling unique artisan works from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.  Their mission is to provide better opportunities for and improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of artisans in 38 impoverished countries.  Any products sold by Ten Thousand Villages helps pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for the artisans.  To help keep the peace and harmony at I-Fest this year, UNCG Police patrolled around the Fountain Area.  Supervising Officer A.E. Joyner was one of the officers on hand to make sure everything ran smoothly.  “While we don’t expect many, if any, problems, at the festival, our officers still like to keep an eye out just to make sure everyone participating is focusing on enjoying the events,” he remarked.

Penelope Pynes, Assistant Provost for International Programs, credits the large turnout at the I-Fest to the beautiful weather.  “In comparison to last year, the number of people here has increased greatly.  The weather is perfect which definitely helps encourage people to venture outdoors for events like the International Festival,” she said.  “The I-Fest not only helps to promote students from UNCG to study abroad, but for students in other countries to come here to UNCG for their studies.  We [International Programs] work all year long with the Student Government Association to help raise money for this event.”

Students from Grimsley High School volunteered for the I-Fest as part of their IB program.  High school junior Leeann Chen said that she loves the diversity of the booths and crowds.  “I also love sampling the food, seeing all of the traditional jewelry and clothing, and really helping out with an amazing event.”  Laughing, Chen also remarked, “It also helps out with fulfilling a school requirement which is always a plus!”  The International Festival is certainly a place where people who have maybe prior knowledge or none at all can come, relax, have a good time, and enjoy a wide variety of diverse cultures.