ABISSATH MODERN BLOG

ISS Holds Global Cultural Night of Beauty Explosion

By Mawutodzi Kodzo Abissath

The Amazing Audience that witnessed the memorable event

And the five continents dropped like a single football at ISS arena and exploded! But the explosion was that of love, peace and harmony! Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and others were all there. It was the annual international day 2013. This is an occasion during which the international students and staff of this global academic center of excellence temporarily abandoned their pens, books, laptops and all intellectual gadgets to let out their hearts. The community was not left out of the fun galore.

The evening of culture, cuisine, music, dance and poetry was simply electrifying! Mr. Martin Brok the Institute’s Welfare Officer was the commander-in-chief of affairs. As a matter of fact, for all my over half a century plus on this planet of social events, I have never come across any one person who could metamorphose himself into any guru and execute a million roles at ago. Supported by his able lieutenants, Martin could change colors like chameleon and play any role at will. For this particular evening he was the official camera-man, the DJ and virtually the Arts Director etc. It was amazing!

For those of us witnessing or participating in the ISS International Day for the first time, the event was spectacular. Initially, nobody knew or was sure how things might turn out to be. So, there was sort of a mixture of fear, doubt, apprehension and anxiety. Then Indonesia was called to demonstrate why they were the first country to be chosen. Their performance set the tone of the evening into motion. By the time Japan, South Africa and Uganda had mounted the stage, the arena had changed into something words could not describe.

The atmosphere was transformed into something like the day the Holy Ghost descendent on the apostles in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago. Everybody was fired up. People started speaking in tongues! Others were conspiring to re- strategize. An unannounced spirit of competition had emerged. Some countries that hitherto were feeling shy or timid or apprehensive or in doubt of their own cultural capabilities had been injected with syrup of confidence. Every country wanted to out-do one another. If it had been announced that there was some prize at stake, the stage would have turned into something else.

Wow! It seems to me that most countries from Asia were aware and well-informed about how ISS international days are celebrated. They came better prepared. Their traditional dresses were more colorful and every one of them seems to know exactly what to wear for the occasion. Their ladies were shining in multicolored apparels like butterflies. Their men seemed not only to have well-rehearsed their dances but have choreographed every move of their hands and feet. When their ladies danced, their fingers moved like the head of friendly snakes. Their dance movements were soul moving and inspiring indeed!

But African dancers were masters in their own right. As if African ladies were designed by the Creator himself to portray his generosity to humankind. Their fronts and backs are well-endowed. And when they danced, the vibrations of their bumps cannot fail to awaken any sleeping or dormant walking stick to stand up and get going. What a romantic fashion of demonstrating one’s cultural heritage! It was fantastic! As for African men dancers, their “machoistic” movements coupled with their physical energy could not spare any rodent that dare trespass their footsteps. Some of their waist movements sometimes could lead others into temptations.

I have observed that the European and American dancers have their own unique way of expressing their sentiment. Their romantic movement tends to be a bit more diplomatic or rather a sophiscated way of doing things. Industrialization and science and technology seem to be dictating the way Europeans and American exhibit their dance movement. Advanced technologies have virtually transformed them into an automated society.

So much so that if you cannot read and write, you might not even be able to know at what degree your buttocks should move when dancing; or what should be the diameter of your elbow to the body of your partner when dancing. If care is not taken, one day, affection, love, peace, harmony, beauty and romance will all be automated in Europe and America. But it was this diversity of beauty in various cultures that made the night of Saturday, 23 November 2013 an ISS Global Night of Cultural Explosion.

What a night it was! The constant echoes of numeracy diagnostic tests; academic writing skills, remedial classes, exam preparations, RP jargons; the phobia of three to four-thousand-word- essay assignments, techniques of paraphrasing and sentence constructions with all their plagiarism penalty fevers have temporally been put to rest. The Day gave MA students some breathing space! And they sighed for relief! I overheard some students requesting for encore!

Earlier in the day the institute organized what was dubbed MA in Development Open Day with the presentations of school’s majors. This include Agrarian, Food and Environmental Studies (AFEFS), Governance, Policy and Political Economy (GPPE), Economics of Development (ED), Human Rights, Gender and Conflicts Studies: Social Justice Perspective (HRGCS/SJP) and Social Policy for Development (SPD). And as part of this programme, various participating countries mounted exhibitions of arts and cultural heritage of their respective home countries. This activity was followed by food bazaar where the gastronomical dexterity of every country was exhibited under one roof for “tongue -sampling.”

When the Master Jesus the Christ fed over 5000 men and women without counting children with only five loath of bread and two fishes, he was reported to have ordered that the left overs must not be wasted. And 12 baskets out of what could be thrown into the garbage bins while some people were dying of hunger.

I hereby suggest that the ISS must initiate an additional specialization in Food Production, Preservation and Management (FPPM) within the framework of AFES to help in reduction of global food wastage for the benefit of starving fellow human beings in any part of our global village