From across the globe, convening for Easter feast

 by Allison Denny
 published on Monday, March 24, 2008

John Battaglia / THE STATE PRESS

COMING TOGETHER: Former ASU student Daniel Ryan, right, and international ASU student Yingtao Liu, left, fix themselves plates of food at the dinner held by the International Students Club at the Grace Community Church in Tempe Saturday evening.

Students from across the globe — some in African dashikis, some in Indian saris and some in jeans and T-shirts — gathered to celebrate Easter Saturday night at Grace Community Church in Tempe.

More than 150 international students of all religions met for the dinner, hosted by ASU's Friends of Internationals and the University's International Students Club.

After dinner, an African group sang Christian praise songs in Swahili and English. The chorus was left for international students to sing in their native language.

Ron Mills, a 10-year veteran of the International Students Club, said the Easter dinner shows international students how important the holiday is to Christians.

In many countries, celebrations indicate importance, he said.

"If we didn't do that, they would think, 'Oh, this is not a real holiday to these people,' " he said.

Columbian art education graduate student Maria Margarita Gomez Rachon said she thought the dinner was a good opportunity to get involved with other international students.

"I'd never come to an international [student] meeting, so I thought it was a good thing to do," she said.

Gomez Rachon said she thinks teaching others about your culture is important.

"If you learn about other cultures you can learn to respect them — their good things and their bad things — so you can become more tolerant," she said.

Ben Joseph, president of Friends of Internationals, founded the club in 1984.

The group started with just one Chinese couple, he said.

"It kind of snowballed," Joseph said, into what it is today.

The club serves the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of international students, he said.

This was the first year the event has taken place at Grace Community Church, Joseph said, though his group has been hosting the event for a number of years.

About 90 percent of what both Friends of Internationals and the International Students Club do is social in nature, Joseph said. Only two times a year — at Easter and Christmas — do they promote their religion.

The majority of the students the two clubs work with, representing about 140 nations, are from China and India.

Education graduate student Manuel Gairay of Mexico met Joseph at ASU. He attended the dinner for the first time.

"I wanted to be with them and to enjoy the company of friends," he said. "I love it."

International Students Club president Jeny Mills said the organization provides international students with help when they first come to the United States and with activities throughout the year, from baseball games to road trips.

"The purpose of the club is to help them get a cultural experience in Arizona," the global studies sophomore said.

Though the group is Christian-sponsored, Mills said it is open to all international students of all religious backgrounds.

Events like the Easter dinner, though, help international students better understand the difference between American culture and Christian culture, she said.

"It's very important to have all these different cultures come together," she said. "Even though there's conflict in the world we can all come together in peace."

Reach the reporter at: allison.denny@asu.edu.