Cornell’s AIESEC chapter hosted the annual Global Village event at Duffield Hall Friday, providing food, art, games and performances from cultures and countries around the world.
Evelyn Shan ’19, a member of AIESEC and staff writer for The Sun, said that the Global Village event “engages and unites the campus in the cultural diversity that it has to offer and that so many students represent.”
The event involved several cultural organizations at Cornell, including the International Students Union, Hong Kong Students Association, Chinese Students Association, Central American United Student Association, Tibet Initiative and Ethiopian-Eritrean Student Association.
In addition to providing information about each organization, Global Village encouraged people to take advantage of volunteer and internship opportunities through AIESEC.
AIESEC’s “fundamental mission is to send students abroad through volunteer exchanges and personal and leadership development within the team,” Shan said.
The cultural organizations at Global Village offered information, other volunteer/internship opportunities, activities and trivia. Students were able to participate in origami-making and a Chinese tile-based matching game called “mahjong.”
The Global Village offered traditional Iranian cuisines to students upon completion of trivia or other activities from a minimum of six cultural organizations. These included “kalam-polo shirazi,” a rice dish mixed with lamb, kohlrabi, onions and vegetables; “shole-zard,” a saffron rice pudding; “salad shirazi,” a cucumber, tomato and onion salad; and “mirza qasemi,” an appetizer made with eggplants, tomatoes and garlic.
Persian instruments, designs, and household objects were also showcased, such as the “qalam-kar,” a wooden pipe instrument, “termeh,” a handwoven cloth, “mina-kari,” a type of intricate enamelwork and “khatam,” a wooden decoration technique.
Several dance organizations performed as well, including the Amber Dance Troupe, Big Red Raas, HanChum, Shimtah, Illuminations, E.motion, Tarana, Anjali and Cornell Lion Dance.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself — my strengths and weaknesses as a leader, how I work in a team, what gets me pumped and motivated [through AIESEC], but also a lot about others — how to empower and equip them as leaders and create a community that’s so much more than just the professional aspect,” Shan said.