Zurya Anjum, Sartell
As a long-time resident of Sartell, I am proud of our city and how involved residents are in projects for the good of all. I am especially thankful to Celebration Lutheran Church. I was introduced to Pastor Elizabeth Strenge last year by a mutual friend regarding the possibility of speaking as a Muslim in the city.
I spoke twice at events and found it to be an excellent learning opportunity not just for the audience but also for me, as some of the questions asked were not what I expected.(e.g. How do you greet a Muslim?)
With the recent political events, I started thinking about reaching out to the community but did not know how to do it. I had an idea of having a gathering of people from different countries, cultures and religions together. I approached Pastor Strenge with my idea in December 2016 and by January we had a name (International Community Festival) and an organizing committee formed, with regular meetings to plan the event. Strenge, along with other staff at Celebration, did everything they could to make it the success it was. I am really grateful to them. I had the seeds of an idea, and they made it blossom into many beautiful flowers.
That event was a great example of how people from different parts of the world, different cultures, different religions and languages can come together to learn from one another and have fun doing it. It was a great fun and learning experience for kids, too. Both (of) my kids tried different countries’ snacks and had their favorites. Special thanks also go(es) out to my friends, Gayathri Wajatungha and Tehreem Sabir, for helping out from start to finish with this project.
Here’s hoping this will be a start of (a new) tradition for many more events of this kind. Finally, thank you to all participants who generously provided snacks and shared their country’s cultures with all of us. You helped make this a success.
