Festival celebrates, appreciates culture

ELIZABETHTOWN | Adirondack Friends of Refugees and Immigrants (AFRI) started the Global Festival to foster an appreciation for the many different cultures and countries represented in the Adirondacks. AFRI started in 2016, in response to the Syrian refugee crisis. Since then, the group has been active in the community doing outreach like raising money for Ukrainian refugees and giving donations and assistance to Plattsburgh Cares, a coalition that assists immigrants and other individuals in the Plattsburgh community achieve their goals safely, for refugees crossing the border into Canada. They also have been supporting the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Vermont and the Capital District, helping them settle refugees in those areas. The first Global Festival took place last year. AFRI had previously held a forum with speakers and discussions about what would be a just and sustainable immigration policy for the United States to adopt. Cynthia Poppino, steering committee chair of AFRI, said it was difficult to pin down a policy that was truly just and sustainable because it is such a complex topic. "And then I said, 'OK well what if everything was going to be beautiful? If it was going to be a utopia? What would I want to see?'" Poppino said. She made a list of things she would want to see in this ideal world. One thing that stuck out on the list was she would like people in the U.S. to have an appreciation for other cultures. AFRI had been doing fundraisers every October, which Poppino said raised money, but didn't achieve this goal of encouraging appreciation for each other's cultures and backgrounds. That is when they decided to start Global Festival. They began the first festival with the question, "how many of you are from, or have lived in, another country?" To Poppino's surprise, about half of the crowd raised their hand. "It turned into a meet your neighbor type of event," Poppino said. Poppino invited everyone to introduce themselves, asking them where they were from and "what was the most amusing thing that happened when you got to the U.S.?" "It was a great icebreaker," Poppino said. "We met a lot of new friends and it was a lot of fun." This year will be set up similarly to last year, with tables in a semicircle around a stage. Each table will represent a different country or culture and people are welcome to share crafts, food and music. There will also be optional short interviews to get people talking about why they moved to the U.S., what they like about it and what they like about the country they moved from. "They can choose their own questions, they can choose their own interviewer," Poppino said. "We want to make it very low stress." About seven cultures and countries were represented at last year's festival and Poppino said the opportunity to share their culture left everyone feeling energized. "Sometimes when you're you're meeting new people, particularly when you're meeting people from a foreign country, you don't know where to start," Poppino said. "A lot of people who have lived in other countries don't always get the opportunity to talk about it unless somebody asks them a direct question, so it opens up a huge gift box of new conversations." The Global Festival will take place Oct. 1 from 2-5 p.m. at the Elizabethtown Social Center. For more information, visit http://www.adirondack-friends-of-refugees.com/events-1.

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Festival celebrates, appreciates culture

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