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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Fri Apr 08 2011 - 08:45:12 EDT
http://lincolntribune.com/?p=9268
America’s Behind-the-Scenes Ambassadors Cultivate Foreign Friendships
Submitted by Dora Mekouar on April 7, 2011 – 9:03 amNo Comment
The dozens of guests gathered in Marian Kumar’s generously-sized kitchen
strain to see the woman in
traditional dress sitting on a low stool. A tray with handleless ceramic
coffee cups and a portable, single-burner
charcoal stove are in front of her. The simple set-up is at odds with the
elegant surroundings – gleaming granite
countertops and high-end appliances.
Anyalem Barayes is conducting a traditional Eritrean coffee service. She
begins by burning incense to ward off
evil spirits. Then she roasts coffee beans in a small pan on the charcoal
stove.
When that is done, Barayes pushes to her feet and walks around the room with
the beans so her audience can
inhale their rich scent. Afterwards, she grinds them and proceeds to make
the coffee everyone is waiting to taste.
Barayes’ niece, Abeba Telahun, stands nearby, explaining each step to the
rapt audience.
“It’s always a pride when you share your culture,” Telahun says afterwards.
“It’s always nice when you are
sharing your culture and people are aware of it. It’s a great pleasure to
share it with the group.”
The group sharing this experience is called THIS for Diplomats - once known
as The Hospitality and
Information Service. The nonprofit volunteer organization helps families of
foreign diplomats adapt to life in the United States.
Today’s gathering includes women from across the globe, including Iraq,
Pakistan and Kurdistan. Their
convivial chatter fills the air as they sample the wide variety of food laid
out in the dining room. Watching them,
it’s difficult to believe their presence in this Oakton, Virginia home
outside of Washington, D.C., can be traced
back to a single tragic event which occurred a half century ago.
Sense of isolation
A little more than 50 years ago, a young African woman with two small
children jumped to her death from her
high-rise New York apartment. The wife of a UN diplomat who was unfamiliar
with modern urban life, she’d
become increasingly isolated while her husband worked long hours.
The tragedy prompted the UN to reach out to new diplomats and their families
by establishing The New York
City Commission for the United Nations and the Consular Corps. Then-U.S.
Secretary of State Dean Rusk asked
that a similar effort be made to help foreign diplomats in the nation’s
capital. The result was The Hospitality and
Information Service for Diplomatic Residents and Their Families (THIS).
As the group celebrates its 50th anniversary, THIS’ current president Joan
Keston says many of the needs of
diplomatic families remain the same.
“They’re very lonely,” explains Keston. “What we give them is one-on-one
human contact, someone they can
talk to, someone they can relate to. It gives them a sense of community. We
have meetings in people’s homes so
they can see an American home.”
That casual sense of hospitality makes an impression on Azy Abdullah, a
young mother from Brunei who
brought her four-year-old son to the coffee gathering. It surprises her that
Americans invite guests into their
kitchens – something that never happens in Brunei.
“Americans are really open and open-minded as well,” she says. Abdullah, a
professional working woman in her
own country, is a stay-at-home mother while living in the United States.
THIS outreach
THIS offers a variety of services to women like Abdullah, including coffees
such as this one and conversation
groups which allow the visitors to practice their English. THIS volunteers
also provide rides for women who
don’t have any other way of getting to the events.
Additionally, diplomatic families receive help for everyday needs, like
where to find a doctor or what cuts of
meat are available at American grocery stores. Excursions to historic U.S.
sites or other places of interest are
also organized.
Nagaza Shadevr of Uzbekistan has been in the U.S. for one year and looks
forward to THIS gatherings.
“I want to learn the language and speak in English. The coffees are helping
me to speak in English,” says
Shadevr in halting English. “They are learning our culture and we are
learning their culture and it is so
interesting.”
Citizen diplomacy
That shared understanding is a significant part of THIS' mission, which
strives to promote international
goodwill.
“People relate to each other on a one-to-one basis and it destroys any myth
of the ugly American,” says THIS
president Keston. “Americans are very warm-hearted and caring and the
diplomats see that.”
Tasawar Rangha, whose husband is a trade minister at the Pakistani embassy
in Washington, also appreciates
the opportunity to shatter negative stereotypes about her country.
“It’s a good thing to do it because we get to integrate with these people.
They know more about us and we know
more about them,” says Rangha. “I think they have a better picture of us."
Carolyn Peacher, chairperson of the THIS Arlington International Coffee
group, says the interactions lead to
significant personal revelations. “I think we understand that we are not as
far apart as our governments.
Primarily we’re there to find out what we have in common, not how we’re
different.”
By practicing this citizen diplomacy, THIS members strive to embody the
group’s guiding principle - that
average Americans, in their natural state, are the best ambassadors a
country can have.
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