This is the third year has hosted the series of events, which includes a theater production on Monday; a “Remember the Heroines” vigil for women killed in Mexico on Tuesday; and two events on Friday: chapel with Center for Justice and Peacebuilding graduate student Myriam Aziz and Darsheel Sehbi, and the “Taste of EMU” cooking contest.

A committee from the International Student Organization chooses a new theme each year. The 2015 committee includes students Gamtessa, Brenda Soka, Winifred Gray-Johnson, Abdel Barry and Emmanuel Kampanga.

‘Sąđąšąđ˛Ô’

Monday’s performance of will be in the Studio Theater at 7 p.m. A collaboration of seven female playwrights from around the world, this documentary play is a series of monologues based on interviews with international women leaders. Directed by theater professor , “Seven” chronicles the worldwide struggles for empowerment, peace and well-being in Russia, protecting women from domestic violence; in Cambodia, with victims of human trafficking; in Guatemala, with the poor; in Afghanistan, with rural women; in Nigeria and Pakistan, for women’s education and rights; and in Northern Ireland, promoting peace and equality, according to the production’s website.

Olga Baltazar, who reads for the Guatemalan character Annabella de Leon, does not see herself as an actress. However, reading the script convinced her to join the cast. “These women rose from against all odds of their culture to fight for women’s’ rights,” says Baltazar, who is from Mexico. “I feel connected to to my character because I, for one, represent a culture where women are often put down.”

“These stories have inspired me,” says Rebekah York, a senior from Romania who plays an Irish woman named Inez McCormack. “To see that women have been supporting each other and empowering other women over the years is truly amazing. Sometimes we can feel so alone in our work, but looking at history and reading about some pretty incredible women of the past fills me with hope.”

Vogel says the “powerful piece” will be presented as a concert reading. Baltazar and York are joined by cast members Victoria Gunawan, Adila Wahdat, Dera Nwankwo and Iryna Clamp.

‘Taste of EMU’

The ‘Taste of EMU’ competition on Friday is open to all community members. To participate, contact Susannah Lepley in the Multicultural and International Student Services office. Up to $20 of ingredient expenses can be reimbursed.

“I was part of the food festival last year as a participant, but this year I’m really happy that I got the chance to help coordinate this event,” says Gamtessa, a sophomore computer engineering major from Ethiopia.

“Last year, we had to cook [for the contest] as part of my global connections class,” Gamtessa explains. “This year, we changed the name from the ‘International Food Festival’ to ‘Taste of EMU’ because we didn’t want to restrict the food to the international community. We want anyone and everyone who is willing to do it, to prepare something  which they believe has meaning to them and people around them and share it with the campus community.We hope this experience will take people down the road and across the globe.”

Senior Zoe Parakuo from Kenya competed last year with one of her favorite snacks, samosas – a savory, fried pastry. Samosas “were adapted by Kenyans when Indians settled there back in the day, so I thought a lot of people would be familiar with it,” says Parakuo. “I wanted students to enjoy my food.”

She also fell in love with alpacas, , , and to the variety of goings-on during the two-week festival.

Now back in Harrisonburg, Gunawan says her summer living at the (WCSC) and working for the famous Smithsonian Institution is still a bit of a blur: Though her peers and professors told her many times about what a privilege her summer job was, “even now, I’m still trying to process that ‘woohoo’ moment, like, ‘Hey I was at the festival, and I did work at that prestigious place.’ I still can’t believe it,” Gunawan said.

‘Career-launching’ internships

Gunawan, a major, takes moving to a new place and meeting new people in stride. She first came to the United States to study at Hesston College, and eventually fell in love with the EMU campus, transferring for her junior year.

“[The student that inspired me to attend EMU] left after my first spring semester, but she helped me to transition here,” Gunawan said, adding that the pair are still friends today.

Gunawan began thinking about her summer plans in January with the help of WCSC director . After years of living in the D.C. area and networking on behalf of EMU students, Schmidt has contacts in the Smithsonian Institutes, including the Folklife Center, which hosts the annual festival on the Mall, the , the and the .

She’s always excited when a student lands a prestigious internship at these important cultural institutions.

“I hope that as word gets out, more EMU students will apply to these internships. We’ve had great success partnering with the Smithsonian. These are career-launching internships and though the application process is highly competitive, the Smithsonian is interested in working with our students.”

Gunawan did indeed survive a competitive interview process. Though experienced in different aspects of public relations and marketing through internships with the university’s marketing and communications department, she had no idea of what the next nine weeks would hold in store.

“Even though my supervisor told me to get familiar with the [Folklife Festival] website, and I was, I still wasn’t sure of what was happening where and when,” Gunawan said. “For me, every day was a completely new day.”

Reporting on the ground

Her work started before the festival began. Gunawan posted daily “little glimpses” on Twitter and Facebook of what visitors would see in a few weeks.

When festivities actually started on June 24, events kept Gunawan busy.

“Every day, my supervisor and I would look at the schedule and see what was happening, and we would try to cover those events, either by taking pictures, or small Instagram 15-second videos or Vine six-second videos, or even just by getting a quote from one of the participants,” Gunawan said.

The internship did not come without challenges: some Peruvians communicated only through a Spanish translator, and there were many indigenous people who did not speak Spanish.

Despite the challenges, Gunawan did not forget to enjoy herself while she was there. Over two Fridays, alpacas were brought in for a ritual performed by the weavers from the Chinchero community in Peru.

The alpacas “warmed my heart,” Gunawan said. “One of the communities in Peru has a traditional fiber blessing ceremony for when the alpacas give birth. They have a whole ritual of praying to the Pachamama, or Mother Earth, their Apu, or mountain spirit, their ancestors, and natural forces for safety on their land. They sprinkle the alpacas with this drink called chicha, which is fermented corn alcohol, while saying the blessing.”

Crossing the bridge

Although alpacas were Gunawan’s personal favorite, the was monumentally impressive, she said, the big “icon they were going for.”

“Four communities in Peru re-build a bridge every year between these two really high cliffs. It’s a 600-year tradition,” Gunawan said. The same crew that r near Huinchiri each June hustled to finish their project at home so that they could travel to the United States to build a smaller replica.

Gunawan was in charge of documenting the bridge building for social media, catching every moment from casting the first rope to tying the last knot. Although the public was not able to walk on the bridge, event staff had the privilege to cross if they choose, and Gunawan — most likely the first and last Indonesian to cross the Q’eswachaka Bridge, she says — was excited about the opportunity.

Her only regret was her inability to cover every event. This was both an outcome of the small size of the social media unit (consisting of Gunawan and her supervisor exclusively), and the numerous events taking place day to day.

“Through the work of other [interns], I got to see what was happening in other places,” Gunawan said.

As she prepares for her final year at EMU, Gunawan says she’ll carry her memories of this summer, along with hopes of one day returning to work at future Folklife Festivals.

It also helped that Gbowee knew ˛ÝÝŽÉçÇř well. She had earned a in 2007.

Gbowee, a social worker who led a women’s peace movement that helped end Liberia’s civil war 10 years ago, addressed a fundraising dinner for over 100 people at EMU on Feb. 7. Organized by the school’s International Student Organization, the event was followed by a public address to about 200 attendees, who put contributions into baskets passed by the students.

The events raised over $4,000 after expenses for the care of children whose parents died from Ebola. The funds will go to the Nobel winner’s in the Liberian capital of Monrovia. The foundation makes grants to grassroots groups, including two Liberian organizations founded by graduates of .

The countries hardest hit by Ebola, which started in March 2014, were Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, said Gbowee in her public address. The 3.4 million people of her country had only 51 doctors. “We were not prepared for Ebola, but Liberian civil society rose to the occasion,” she said. “We didn’t wait around for the international community to come and help us.”

Gbowee told the stories of three Liberian heroes – a doctor who cared for Ebola victims in his humble clinic at the risk of his own life, a taxi driver who transported dangerously infectious patients to the hospital, and a young man with a full-time job who provides care for orphans in his off hours.

The epidemic has finally abated in Africa, she said. The Ebola clinics are emptying and students are going back to school. But, she added, the people still live in fear, the economy is ruined and orphans abound.

“We appreciate the help of international organizations,” Gbowee said. “But sometimes they didn’t bother to consult with the local people about how to fight Ebola. They thought they had the expertise, but if you don’t really listen to what the people want, then it’s not much use.”

Gbowee has a reputation for speaking truth to power, most notably when she publicly confronted the president of Liberia during the country’s civil war. Most recently she criticized the United Nations’ humanitarian aid efforts during a meeting of the UN Security Council.

During a question-and-answer session at the conclusion of her speech, Gbowee praised young people for their idealism and gave advice on how to start on the path to activism. “Ideas that are ground-breaking and keep you awake at night might seem like crazy ideas,” she said. “But write them down, tell a friend and step out boldly. Getting angry about an unjust situation is not only okay, she added, but a good thing.

The students who organized the fundraiser represented five continents: Kaltuma Noorow and Nandi Onetu of Kenya, Winifred Gray-Johnson and Gee Paegar of Liberia, Sun Ju Lee of South Korea, Wael Gamtessa of Ethiopia, Brenda Soka of Tanzania, Zoe Parakuo of the United States, Norah Alobikan of Saudi Arabia, Danika Saucedo of Bolivia, Victoria Gunawan of Indonesia, and Marcus Ekman of Sweden. , EMU’s director of , is the advisor for the International Student Organization.

Gbowee’s last trip to EMU was in April 2014, when she was the that included her son, Joshua Mensah. Before that she came to campus in . Just prior to her arrival, the was announced, and thus her appearance made for a frenzied weekend.

Editor’s note: Kara Lofton, a 2014 EMU grad, reported on Gbowee’s appearance at the Ebola fundraiser for local public radio station WMRA; her four-minute report can be heard.

, who teaches the social media class, requires her students to keep a blog on a topic relevant to the class and offers ideas for that blog. She handed out a list of possibilities that included Al Weiwei, who is known around the world for his art as well as criticism of China’s ruling Communist Party.

Looking into Ai, Gunawan became intrigued and began to follow him on Twitter. After Gunawan published her first blog post on him, Ai began following her back. “I was so surprised,” said Gunawan. “He is world famous!”

When Ai was arrested and held for 81 days in China in the spring of 2011, 90,000 sympathizers around the world signed a petition asking for his release, according to .

As a project for the social media class, Gunawan was supposed to interview someone who knew a lot about her topic. However, she ran into dead ends as she sought people to talk to about Ai, she said in an interview with EMU news service.

Beginning to panic, Gunawan sent Ai a personal message on Twitter. Not getting a response, she sent him a second message that said, “I need to interview you or I won’t get a good grade in this class.” He proposed a Skype interview for the next day.

Gunawan had never interviewed someone this influential before and was nervous at the prospect, so she texted Moore around midnight, expecting to get a response the next day. Her professor responded immediately and helped her come up with some questions for the interview.

Although Ai’s work as an artist is known widely – he is active in sculpture, installation, architecture, curating, photography, film, and social, political and cultural criticism, according to Wikipedia – he was not as pretentious or pompous as Gunawan expected a famous person to be. “I learned a lot about him as a person,” she said. “He is really powerful. I thought he would have an ego like people in a higher position have, but he didn’t. He is just a very nice person.”

Perhaps as surprising is the fact that Gunawan got through to Ai at all in China. “They wiretap his phone, his computer, his house, and he is constantly followed by the police as they spy on him and his whereabouts,” says his Wikipedia entry.

Gunaman asked him how EMU could best support his work and Ai replied, “Maybe just write to your [university] president and ask [if maybe] I can come to your school to teach or talk or whatever… Now we know each other, and I know you, [and] you know me. So, you know, we can keep in touch.”