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See the world at WOW 2005 | ||||
| What do the Girl Scouts, Indian Student Association and Leadership Upper Cumberland have in common? They'll soon be joining hands with other Middle Tennessee individuals and groups to form the heart of Window on the World 2005. Fifty-some booths will fill the Roaden University Center from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. tomorrow with international information, cultural exhibits and sales of world clothing, jewelry, music, books, and craft objects. The cultural exhibit on Sudan will be hosted by Putnam Countian Jim Vance, who lived there from 1981 to 1988.
“I’ll be showing photographs, magazines, spears, a hippopotamus shield and thumb pianos called mbira,” says Vance, a physician’s assistant who worked in health care for a construction project in the north African nation. “An interesting thing about mbira is that owning one was a capital offense during British rule because people would remove telegraph wires to make them.” Civil wars in Sudan have taken an estimated 2 million out of a population of 5 million — and it seems that no sooner does one war end, than another begins. Vance reports that just as a civil war lasting 20 years ended in a truce about two months ago, another one erupted. “Sudan is so fragmented into tribal and ethnic areas that it has never held together well,” he says. “So it’s hard to say whether the war is due to these historical forces or oil or religious differences. It’s probably all three. Basically, the various factions in Sudan just don’t like each other, which is strange to me because the people I know there are among the nicest I have ever met.” Learning, appreciating and tolerating cultural differences is what the WOW festival is all about. Other cultural exhibits will spotlight seven European nations, including new entries from Hungary and Romania; six from Asia, including a new one from Turkey; and 10 from Latin America, including new booths on Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Mexico. Informational booths at WOW 2005 will cover everything from foreign film and the Peace Corps to the Heifer Project and WCTE-TV’s Spanish language programming. The popular UNICEF collection of world instruments will be set up for hands-on play, as will TTU’s Conservation Club’s “feet-on” walk-through rainforest. The Girl Scout Council of Cumberland Valley will present elements of its Hermanitas (“little sisters”) program. Through weekly school meetings, Hispanic immigrant girls learn the language and culture of their new home in lessons that affirm the value of their own culture. Finally, souvenirs from this trip around the world can be found at booths throughout the festival, including individuals selling Philippine, African, Asian and Peruvian artifacts. And the following shops promise lots of goodies: * A Rare Find is bringing a treasure trove of inventory from the import shop on North Cedar Avenue. * Cumberland Countians for Peace and Justice will be selling crafts from — and benefiting — tsunami-affected villages. * Nashville’s Global Education Center is once again bringing a collection of world instruments for sale. * One World Market of Cookeville’s First Presbyterian Church will offer arts and handcrafts from around the globe for the benefit of UNICEF, SERVV and Brush Dance. * School House Supply promises its usual array of multicultural books and activities for children. WOW 2005 is a fun, free, family event. The festival is sponsored by the College of Business and funded primarily by Center Stage, with contributions from Fleetguard and Wal-Mart. For more information, visit the festival web site at www.tntech.edu/wow/. |
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