MultiCultural Living in Cork

Hi everyone,

This weeks blog (can you believe it three weeks in a row!) focuses on a multi-cultural class that Margie and I are privileged to be invited to in Cork. Our inclusion in the course comes through the Zappa quilt experience of all places, just going to show the synchronicity of the universe can travel long distances through time to set up new beginnings. About eight weeks ago I got a letter from a Zappa fan who had looked up the quilt project on the internet and found my e-interview from a couple of years ago. In it I mentioned that I was moving to Kinsale, and this woman decided to write me here. Her tone was friendly and I put it aside but with the intention to write her back.

Time went by and as I was leaving for our trip to the US I decided to write. Since she had asked about how my life had progressed after the quilt I told her about my desire to write for different types of publication. At the times these ideas were focused on reinventing life and I mused about doing an advise column. Long story short, she replied quickly, stating the she had just attended a Christmas party for a newspaper she writes freelance for The Immigrant whose mission it is to advance Cork as a multicultural place to live. The story continued that I wrote to their editor and hopefully that the February issue will see my first advise column in print. Quite exciting.

Well as marketing and networking go these days, this put us on the mailing list for the newspaper, which is funded by the Eastern European Alliance and they also put on these multicultural exchange classes. Margie and I jumped on the chance and off we went to Cork last Thursday for our first adventure.

Fifteen people attended from twelve countries: the US (of course), Rwanda, Nigeria, Serbia, England, France, Ethiopia, Ireland, Italy, Russia and Trinidad. We did not get into all the reasons that brought us to Ireland, although a couple of women came here because of their husbands. Another man is on work exchange and I suspect at least two of the people are there because they are writers and think that it is not only interesting but the stuff of which good stories may be made (in this I am in full agreement).

We spent our first time together sharing briefly about our countries - not directly but through the vehicle of telling someone else who tells the group. It was interesting that Margie and I both stressed the diversity of the US and how, even if we are to exchange bits about our country how we can't be said to speak for the "American experience." While I suspect that is true to at least some respect of everyone in the room, I left thinking that this was a new concept for the others. In other words, it seemed that the others in the room felt as though they could speak to how life was in their country - that they came from a unified experience based upon their native origins. I find this especially interesting in that one of the men (from Rwanda) comes from a country with 5 clearly defined ethnic groups. Of course we know of the war between between the majority Hutu and minority Tutsi, where somewhere between .5 and 1 million people perished in the spring of 1994. I cannot even imagine the lives or experiences of some of the people in our group. As I told the group, I came along because I realize what a baby I am in terms of understanding the experiences of the rest of the world.

A couple of times a US identity became too much the center of focus for me. The first was during the presentation by the woman from Serbia in which she was answering questions about Bosnia. I did not understand the references, but the men from African countries were questioning her about the political unrest. Her point of view is that Bosnia is a group that developed recently, as Yugoslavia broke up and that Serbians don't know much of what happened there. After mentioning "the Nato bombing" she looked directly at me and said something that left me wondering to what extent inappropriate (in Serbian terms) US intervention had instigated whatever happened there. More to learn about at another time - recent history will come alive for us as a result of this class.

During the small gathering at the end of the meeting one man said it was nice to have the US represented and then the group asked questions about the upcoming elections. I replied as I commonly due (hoping for a democratic outcome, trying to explain the dynamics behind decisions that might include either a black or woman president - etc) but came to a place where I pointed out to the group that we all were discussing the politics of the US but were unlikely to be able to equally discuss the politics of anywhere else in the world to the same extent. It seems to me at times as though the US is both a world power AND a source of entertainment for the rest of the world. Entertaining, likely until some overt foreign intervention makes our colonial ideals become apparent once again.

Colonial history can also bring laughter however. As the man from Ethiopia was explaining that his was the only African country which was not taken over by outside powers during the time of world colonization, the man from Italy said, "But we tried!" To which everyone laughed.

Before I go, the personal and honest conversation I had with the woman from Trinidad moves me to what is likely a common experience anywhere in the world that is currently experiencing modern day colonialism - that of the multinational corporations. She was telling me that while the oil and asphalt (pitch) industries were the big producers of wealth in her country, that it makes her mad that the smart black Trinidad men always take second slots in management behind their white, foreign counterparts brought in by the companies that employ them.

Clearly the complexities of the world will be displayed in what we learn from this group. Please comment from your experiences that may be similar or different to the ones I describe here. I look forward to keeping up the conversation in weeks to come. Next week however we will be experiencing Eastern Europe for ourselves as we take three days and go to Krakow in Poland.

More next week,
Alana