Cultures, tradition and a stunning example of thriving diversity bloomed like a thousand spring flowers at Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell April 23 during an “International Community Festival.”
The event, organized by Dr. Zurya Anjum of Sartell, was intended as a celebration of the wide range of cultural backgrounds of people who live in Sartell. By all accounts it was a grand success, so well attended by church parishioners and others, that at times there was little room to move from booth to booth. Several people remarked about how interesting, fun and tasty the event turned out to be.
In the huge church lobby, there were 18 booths with cultural artifacts, information and snack foods representing 18 countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Germany, Haiti, India, Jordan, South Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Scotland, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan and Vietnam.
The lobby was jam-packed with visitors who sampled foods as they visited with the representatives of the many nations, all of whom live in Sartell or nearby cities. There were immigrants who have lived in the area for generations, such as Germans, Norwegians, Swedes; and there were the newer immigrants from countries such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Haiti and Vietnam.
The snack foods alone spoke of great diversity: delicious shortbread cookies from Sweden, succulent sambosas (fried-dough pockets filled with slightly spicy vegetables) from Somalia, rolled-up lefse (thin potato pancakes) from Norway, turnip-rice cakes with a dipping sauce from Taiwan – to name just some.
The lobby was bursting with vibrant shapes and colors: the radiant colors of traditional costumes, the many hues of artifacts on display, the bright red plaids of a Scottish bagpiper, the intricate patterns of woven materials.
Dr. Zurya Anjum, who organized the celebration, is a psychiatrist who has lived in Sartell for many years. She said she was very pleased with the turnout and the warm reception people expressed about the event. She was also pleased her 85-year-old father was able to be there to enjoy the social mixing. Mohammad Iqbal, who lives in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, has visited his daughter many times since she has lived in Sartell since 2000. Iqbal, for most of his life, was a member of the Pakistani military until he retired 25 years ago. He said he is very proud his three daughter, including Zurya, all became successful doctors.
Dalman was born and raised in South St. Cloud, graduated from St. Cloud Tech High School, then graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in English (emphasis on American and British literature) and mass communications (emphasis on print journalism). He studied in London, England for a year (1980-81) where he concentrated on British literature, political science, the history of Great Britain and wrote a book-length study of the British writer V.S. Naipaul. Dalman has been a reporter and weekly columnist for more than 30 years and worked for 16 of those years for the Alexandria Echo Press.