| PLEASE
NOTE: Community
Language and Culture Bank officially
changed its name to Center
for Intercultural Organizing
in August, 2005 to better reflect our mission, work and values.
The Oregonian (Portland, OR)
September 9, 2004
HOPE BEGINS WHEN FEAR ENDS
Angie Chuang
Kayse Jama was tired of Sept. 11.
The Somali refugee -- who's seen his share of war and tragedy
in his home country -- says he felt discouraged by the sense
of helplessness and fear people expressed as they remembered
that day.
So Jama, founder of the nonprofit Community Language and Culture
Bank, multicultural groups and other peace activists decided
to celebrate Sept. 12 this year.
"The day after Sept. 11 is a day to say, enough of this fear,
we have to move on," Jama says. "I have no disrespect for
those who were impacted by Sept. 11. But I think they'd want
to see something positive come out of tragedy."
So his organization and the Portland State University Multicultural
Center created the Global Portland Festival, which will take
place on Sunday afternoon on the South Park Blocks at PSU.
The six-hour-long event features everything from rap music
from Benin to forums on religious pluralism and weapons of
mass destruction. Performances representing Egypt, the Philippines,
Iran and Poland, among others, will underscore the festival's
theme. A special emphasis is being placed on families, with
interactive storytelling and music for children and parents.
The keynote speaker will be local author Mark Mathabane, whose
best-selling book "Kaffir Boy" told of his childhood in South
Africa.
"Growing up under apartheid, I felt he had something to say
about the theme of our event," intercultural understanding
and nonviolent conflict resolution, said Stephanie Stephens,
who runs the Community Language and Culture Bank with Jama,
her husband.
Dozens of community groups are sponsoring the event, which
is being funded in part by a MacKenzie River Gathering Foundation
grant.
Stephens said she hopes the festival will start a tradition
in which Portlanders mark Sept. 12 annually as a day to honor
the event's motto: "Hope begins where fear ends."
"It's an idea whose time has come."
Angie Chuang: 503-221-8219; angiechuang@news.oregonian.com.
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