Global breakfast celebrates cultural diversity and food

The Diversity Resource Center and ESL/ECC programs were able to bring the Mt. Hood campus together between 9 and 11 o’clock on a cloudy Wednesday morning at the Student Union by serving breakfast food items popular from many different countries.

The Global Breakfast event was for students and staff of all nationalities to celebrate the many cultures represented at MHCC.

Several people performed music or a dance that is dear to them for the crowd.

“Folk music is in the soul of the people,” said Natalia Baranova, a teacher from Reed College invited to the event by a friend to sing folk songs from Russia. “I wish there was more events like this at Mt. Hood,” said Baranova.

“Every dance we do is to honor Mother Nature,” said one of the Aztec dance performers in the visiting group Vida y Movimiento (in the Aztec language, Ollin Yolliztli).

While performing, Aztec dancers wear traditional costumes, called “chachayotls,” that include head-dresses made of feathers and seed-leggings that make lots of noise as they move.

The Aztec dancers were the topic of most conversation among the impressed guests. “We can understand each other without knowing the language,” Baranova said about appreciating the Aztec dancers and folk songs.

As each MHCC student entered the event, they were asked to put a dot on a global map to show where they are from. “Many people come from Mexico, Portland, Oregon, Vietnam,” said Malado Keita,  from Mt. Hood’s ESL/ECC program and in charge of the booth.

Several participants had lots of positive things to say about the event.

“I loved it! I am a vegan, so there was a lot of food for me. I like the Native American dancers,” said Patricia Matteri, the writing specialist (coach) at MHCC.

“I like the singing and the music is so beautiful. The food is delicious and I see my old friends,” said Liya Kot, a Mt. Hood student whose native language is Russian.

David Dahl was the last performer of the morning. He wore Vietnamese attire called Aodio, a traditional blue robe with stylized gold circles the size of oranges.

“I’ve been a musician all my life,” he said, after performing a selection of Vietnamese songs on a instrument called the dandau. (A dandau is a stringed instrument, plucked using a type of pick in one hand with the pitch changed using a lever in the other hand.)

There were different booths on display for guests to learn more about each country represented at Mt. Hood. At the China booth, people were able to trace Chinese symbols representing different objects.

Tenzin Yangchen, Associated Student Government (ASG) director of diversity resources, had a booth selling T-shirts. The T-shirt sales are going to MercyCorps, the Portland-based international aid agency, to help Nepal earthquake victims. “One dollar will feed a family,” said Yangchen.

An estimated 225 people came to the event. Debbie Derr, MHCC president, said she was amazed by the turnout.

“I was overwhelmed by the number of people that were there. I was like, ‘Woah! This is awesome,’ to celebrate the global diversity that we have at the college, which is very reflective of the global diversity that we have in our district,” she said.