African Student Association President Raissa Kora Kodia-Batamio poses alongside Chango Co-president Kayla Carson at the Multicultural Festival’s Diaspora Block Party.
Music, laughter, and conversation filled the room as students gathered on Howard University’s campus for the second annual Multicultural Festival hosted by Changó, Howard’s Afro-Latin student association and Spanish-speaking society.
The two-day event, which consisted of a festival and a Diaspora Block party, was done in collaboration with 13 Howard University cultural clubs and held in a multi-purpose room in Douglass Hall and the basement of Blackburn.
Cultivating a sense of intercultural community is something that Changó Co-President Kayla Cason had in mind when she created the event.
“We are extensions of the same family, the same roots,” Cason said. “And we all continue to draw from the same culture, even though we are scattered across the continents in the world. So it’s really beautiful to see everyone come in here and enjoy the space, take note of each other’s cultures and just celebrate each other as we should always do.”
Between tables decked in vibrant shades of red and green, and topped with snacks, students played games with members of different cultural clubs on the first day of the two-part Multicultural Festival.
Across both days, around 200 students attended the festival, according to Carson.
“I think this event is fantastic as it bridges that gap [between different cultures] for everyone, for every single one of these cultures here and it brings everyone all together,” outreach director of Howard’s Ethiopian Eritrean Student Association Robel Bruk said.
As part of sharing cultures, cultural games and foods were also shared.
Many students opted to play Saudi Arabian board games with Howard’s Saudi Student Association.
Students played a Saudi Board Game at the festival.
As they played, they enjoyed the sweet taste of Saudi shortbread-like cookies, dates, and pastries filled with cream, washed down with the delicate, cinnamon-like taste of Saudi coffee.
Other students learned calligraphy and origami with Howard’s Japanese club before the attendees circled up to watch a dance performance by Omoge, a Howard University Afro-Fusion dance ensemble.
For freshman computer science major Sharon Omotosho, seeing the dance performance was her favorite part.
“Omoge came and they were dancing,” Omotosho said. “Seeing them combine different cultures and their dances into one routine was really nice.”
Imma Anozia, a freshman marketing major from Nigeria, enjoyed the dancing, too.
“I’ve never seen Ethiopians dance until now, so that was nice,” Anozia said. “And it’s just interesting to see that we all have our different dances to watch. It was just nice to see our diversity and see how we can appreciate the differences in our culture.”
Eunice Njoroge, a freshman political science major, voiced similar viewpoints.
“Honestly, I just like looking at different cultures in the community that all of them have,” Njoroge said. “Each culture is different. But there’s this level of like community and familial ship in each one.”
In addition to an appreciation for the diverse ethnicities of Howard University, Cason hopes that this cultural celebration will help counter ignorance as well.
“I think something that’s really important when we’re trying to dismantle this diaspora war rhetoric is exposure,” Cason said. “And to me having a space where you can celebrate blackness in all of its meaning and all of its variations is something that needs to be valued, not just at Howard University but the entire world.”
The Diaspora Block Party
Continuing with this theme of exposure, the second day of the festival, the Diaspora Block Party, started with Tai Chi exercises led by Howard’s Chinese culture club.
Festival attendees are led in Tai Chi by Howard University’s Chinese Culture Club.
Next, attendees learned how to bachata, meringue and were provided instruction on other dances by Changó.
Later on, attendees listened to music as they enjoyed savory samosas from the Ethiopian Eritrean Student Association and sweet, icy, fruit-flavored sorbets served in fruit rinds from the Haitian Student Association.
Richard Mbanaso, a senior international business major and international affairs minor with both Haitian and Nigerian heritage, said that alongside the food he liked learning about other cultures.
“The whole experience was just like a worldview opening thing, showing you things you haven’t experienced before,” Mbanaso said. “ I got to know a little bit more history from some of the [organizations]. Also, I’m leaving with a little bit of dance knowledge,” he added with a laugh.
In addition to learning dances, attendees also got to watch a performance by Tropical Riddimz, Howard’s only Caribbean dance team.
After watching the Tropical Riddimz performance, students were provided with yet another chance to dance themselves.
Led by a member of D.C.’s Malcolm X African Drum Circle, students made a circle as they played various instruments and danced together.
Raissa Kora Kodia-Batamio, president of Howard University’s African Student Association, said she loved how the event allowed Howard’s cultural organizations to grow closer together.
“I like moments like [the Multicultural Festival] where you can’t define it too much, you just have to be like, ‘Oh, it was a special moment, it was just a good time,” Kodia-Batamio said. “[The Multicultural Festival] just showcased the importance of just being there for each other no matter where you’re from.”
After the event, Changó Co-President Kalaya Jones, who was in charge of putting the festival together, reflected on the festival.
“The fact that we have this safe space to utilize to showcase the vastness of the African diaspora, it’s just so special and critical here at Howard,” Jones said. “I think it’s important because it makes us see different cultures in different eyes but see how they all can be centralized around blackness and how blackness can mean so many different things to different people.”
To Jones, seeing all the different cultures together was something she enjoyed.
“I think it was beautiful,” Jones said. “Like it was beautiful that we were able to unite everyone together and just celebrate all of our cultures, and that was the whole theme. That’s what I want my Howard experience to be and I hope that people could just take away that [experience].”