Students at the Institute for Educational Development, East Africa, IED, EA., put their books aside for a day and chose to play. This came in the form of dress up, cooking of traditional foods and dance to celebrate their cultural diversity.
“This is a fun learning platform where we see and learn various cultures that we have across the four countries represented here. It has been a thrilling experience for us to relate with each other apart from our usual academic interactions,” said Vitalis Obonyo, a student at IED, EA.
Themed ‘Celebrating Cultural Diversity’ the students brought faculty and staff together to showcase cultures from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Tajikistan. There was an artistic display of traditional dance, fashion, songs and poems. The day was aimed at appreciating the different traditions and cultures represented at the University.
Harold Masuki, a student at IED, EA emphasized that, Aga Khan University being an international university provides a multicultural teaching and learning environment, “We learn from each other and become aware of our cultural differences because you never know where your career will take you.”
Faculty, students and staff tasted a vast array of foods such as aliya which is dried preserved beef from western Kenya, mursik¸ fermented milk from the Rift Valley region in Kenya; matoke, mashed bananas and malakwang, a bittersweet vegetable from Uganda; mlenda, green vegetables and bumunda, a pastry from Tanzania; and from Tajikistan oshi palau, spiced rice and shakarob, a salad.
IED EA Associate Dean, Dr Nicholas Wachira applauded the students and staff for a well-organised event and encouraged the students to keep up the teamwork.
Cultural day is among the University’s activities to help students experience life outside of the classroom.
