April 1, 2016 – To close out the International Week celebration, the International Students Association (ISA) brought the community together for a night of cultural performances from across Africa. Under the theme “Different cultures, one people,” the week-long celebration sought to highlight the diversity and need for oneness within our community.
“The theme resonates with the need to celebrate diversity, respect differences, and also bring people’s minds to the fact that, in the midst of all those differences we are one people with a common goal; whether it is at Ashesi, or across the globe,” said Rosemary Kotei, Coordinator of the Office of Development and International Programmes. “It is also important to remind people that they are working for the betterment of humanity as one people, and let that fact drive our interactions.”
The week-long celebration featured a broad variety of activities aimed at bringing to the fore both the benefits and challenges inherent within building a diverse community. From a panel discussion on how entertainment promotes diversity, to food-tasting of dishes from across Africa, members of the community had an appreciation for the differences and similarities within our community. Activities such as the Human Library also turned the community into a hotbed to discuss some of the issues we ordinarily shy away from.
“When I joined the ISA, I realized the work the association was putting in to create a unified student body regardless of where we come from,” said Aisha Abba Mohammed ’17. “However, there were some challenges, seeing how people have different cultures. Yet, even though we think differently and do things differently, if we actually took the time to learn about each other, we would actually understand the differences and similarities that we all share. If we start doing this now, we are going to build a global connection in Africa that will make a difference in future.”
As part of the celebration, senior fellows from the Melton Foundation visited Ashesi to lead a talk on global citizenship, centering on how we can foster togetherness and purpose within the community and beyond. “We need to reach out, open up and think beyond our own interests,” said Lars Dietzel, Senior Fellow and Global Network Manager at the Melton Foundation. “We need to embrace that aspect of responsibility that is understanding, appreciating and embracing your role in society, to not only make an individual difference but to think about the bigger picture and act in role that each of us fits in.”
For the climax, members of the community were treated to a mix of activities including a fashion show, cultural dance and spoken word performances. “We are doing this to bring everybody together, irrespective of our differences,” said James Mugo ’18, President of the International Students Association. “We hope to unite everybody to speak the same language, not in terms of dialect, but to not to see oneself as Ghanaian, or Kenyan or South African, but to see oneself as a global citizen.”
The week's activities were sponsored by Rwanda Airline (Rwandair), Office of Students and Community Affairs and the Ashesi Students Council.