Kaleidoscope of Culture

"Feliz cumpleaños!"

"Eid milad saeed!"

"Happy birthday!"

The good wishes were warmly given by my students on a birthday alongside Tres Leches Cake. Hailing from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvadore, Honduras, Sudan, Romania, and Rwanda, I learned while teaching an intermediate English class at Morgan Community College that my students are good at celebrating life. They teach me much with their generosity and warmth.

Even the men enjoyed it.

One day, I admonished my students for speaking so much Spanish instead of English, only to discover they were planning a baby shower for a fellow student. With an abundance of food, presents, and flowers, they played silly games and relished these moments of communal celebration. For many of the men, it was the first baby shower they had ever attended, but they seemed to enjoy it just as much as the women did.

Fleeing Violence and Finding Community

My classes form a kaleidoscope of rich cultural learning opportunities in Fort Morgan, Colorado, where I and others grow together toward community participation and integration. Whether facilitating the Wayfinders Community ESL program or teaching English classes at the food bank, I am constantly learning new things from the people I have the privilege to teach.

Imagine coming from Kinshasa, a city of 17.1 million people, to Fort Morgan, a little farming town in western America, with 2 small children and another on the way!

My displaced friends and students have fled from many places where violence is the heaviest in the world: Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and others.

After a lesson at the food bank class, the students can share a meal with the homeless population and food bank staff. Everyone mingles and fellowships, forming a community of respect and mutual humanity, which I find beautiful to witness and participate in.

Celebrating Belonging

On a recent multicultural day in Fort Morgan, I watched proudly as one of my students joined a group of Mexican dancers performing a cultural group dance with intense skill and passion. I thought of the quilt square banners I'd seen recently at a restaurant created by Fort Morgan's high school students depicting how they see our town. They included the U.S., Mexico, Somalia, and El Salvador flags in one colorful tapestry. As we paused to celebrate belonging in our diversity and shared place, I realized again how honored I am to share these stories and this town with my beautiful friends from all over the world.

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