This is by far one of the coolest blog prompts that we've been given so far. For this cultural exchange assignment, I was paired with Mariam Hussain, a Muslim. So, I took her to a church service at New Birth Christian Ministries and she invited me to Fast-A-Thon.I love new experiences and Fast-A-Thon was definitely one. First thing, I fasted all day. So, I didn't eat or drink anything from when I went to sleep until 5:30pm. That wasn't that bad, but it was still kind of tough, especially since I had a lunch meeting and couldn't eat. The actual event took place at the Performance Hall of the Union on Tuesday and was focused on raising awareness and support for those suffering in the tumult in Syria. The event was hosted by Unicef and the Muslim Student Association. Several students presented spoken word pieces. The keynote speaker gave a thorough presentation on the background and current situation in Syria, which was quite helpful for me. I learned that 36,000 people have died, including women, children, and civilians. The Syrians are greatly lacking in resources to care for the refugees's needs such as medical equipment and food. The regime of Bashar Assad has been brutal evident in the torturing and killing of celebrities, children, and any opposition.
Besides learning about the conflict, I also had the chance to sample Middle Eastern cuisine courtesy of Lavash Cafe. It was very good but a little spicy! I was able to observe some of the Muslim attendees perform one of their daily prayers. I never knew the men prayed separated from the women. I met some cool folks and learned a lot.
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