Tammy Eskridge

A Unique World We Live In It amazes me how our country has come a long way of cultural diversity. I never knew the different, unique, and life styles that are different from what I was raised in. I was directed in a life style that I thought everyone was the same and it was the only life style in the world. Community activities as the Bowling Green International Festival offer a look of other cultural lifestyles to help understand the different life styles. It also offers to explain the understanding of the different lifestyles they live that is different on how we live and that if we as a race understand another view, can also accept and coexist in the same world we all live in today. I want to share my experience on the festival I attended and a personal experience of the community I live in, and then share some news that appeared this week. One booth that raised my interest the most was the culture of Haiti. A woman who was American had the booth, but had done some missionary work in Haiti and had ended up adopting a child from there. She brought her back to the states to raise her. She had her child with her and explained that she had her dress from Haiti on the child and wanted to share the history of her heritage. The mother displays unique items that are homemade from Haiti and sends a portion of the sells back to Haiti to help with the poverty there. She shared with me that she keeps in contact with the child parents and family, and she allows and welcomes the Haiti culture in her home and community. According to the Wikipedia website, the primary cultural is West African roots. There is also strong French, Spanish, and Taino culture there as well. Their religion isn’t much different than ours here in our country. Their main religion comes from Christianity, some are catholic and protestant. There is a strong history of voodooist in their culture. I was amazed with their currency there. There were coins there for sale. One coin that I purchased was a 5 Gourdes. She explains to me that it was like twelve cents in America. She said people in Haiti, if they have that coin in Haiti, is enough to go to town and get essential needs for a day. That impressed me. I wanted to learn more. I found some bracelets, and was told that the children of Haiti hand make these bracelets and eighty percent of proceeds go back to the village. I knew this was where I wanted to purchase the most. This helps me open my eyes to different lifestyles other than what I’m used to and helps me better as a person. Another booth that raised my interest was El Salvador. There was a pair of earrings that caught my eye. I ask for the information on them. They gave me a little paper history on these earrings. It is called New Dawn Jewelry. A group of poor residents from El Salvador villages joined together to help their community with the outbreak of aids and try to help their health care and future of their families. The earrings and other jewelry are made of actual seeds found in El Salvador and added beads create a unique style of this jewelry. According to Wikipedia’s website El Salvador is similar to Latin America. Their language comes mostly from Spanish. They are a very poor country and overwhelmed with health problems with aids being mostly fatal to their future. Their main religion is catholic. They were very eager to share their culture. I wasn’t aware of their desperate need of help of funding a healthy community for the fight of aids in their country. Another example of the knowledge of a different culture is the Celtic roots that were at the festival. They are associated with the Highland Games in Glasgow Kentucky once a year. According to their highland games brochure they state: “The legacy of tradition and values our Celtic roots have given us is evidenced by the beautiful farms and countryside, industrious people and an abundance of spirituality we are so fortunate to have in South Central Kentucky. The Celtic