75 Countries in One Ballroom
With its clustered tents, waving flags, and marvels of crafting, it is undeniable that Global Village is the most visually stunning aspect of the conference. Students spend days, sometimes weeks, of hard work and craftsmanship to put together a display worthy of representing their countries. But perhaps one of the most important, yet least apparent, aspects of Global Village displays are their authenticity. It is difficult to condense the entire culture of a country or countries into a 10x10 foot space, but year after year, delegations and their ambassadors continue to amaze.
Ambassadors from Apollo High School represented the culture of Italy through its most popular aspect: its food. “Due to the warm climate, [Italy’s] really good for growing fruit like grapes and such,” Haley Bond explained. “Italy’s known for its pasta and cheese. We also have some olives, because one of their biggest industries is olive oil.” The food wasn’t the only thing represented, however. “We do have a candle of a saint,” Bond said. “Roman Catholicism is the largest religion in Italy; we wanted to showcase that as well.” And in researching the country, Bond learned just how extensive coffee production was in Italy. “You think of, like, Italian espresso, but I actually didn’t know how big of an industry it was. That was something really interesting I found out by doing my research.”
Other schools also represented their countries’ culture concerning their industry and economy. With their detailed and interactive display, the ambassadors from J. Graham Brown School conveyed the bustling markets of India and Iraq. Jocelynn Pry, an ambassador from Iraq, talked about some of the interesting facts she learned while researching her country. “[Iraq] created calligraphy,” she said, “and it’s the reason why we have twelve hours for day and night. And it also has an icon, just how France has the Eiffel Tower, and how the United Kingdom has Big Ben. Its national icon is the Great Mosque of Samarra.” With their display, the ambassadors were not only sharing the culture of their countries with others but were learning themselves. “All I knew about [Iraq] is that it was war-torn,” Pry said, “but I found out that Iraq is such a beautiful country.”
Other delegations presented some of the problems facing their country in a simple, yet powerful way. Ambassadors from Waggener High School brought to the attention of the conference the urgent issue of clean water access facing Colombia in the form of a pipeline and working water fountain display. “In Columbia, people don’t have access to clean water,” Cordell Adams said. “I know, in the world, people have water problems, but I didn’t know that it was that major of a problem, that a lot of people didn’t have access to water.”
While ambassadors from Columbia brought to our attention the issues facing the people of their country, ambassadors from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea drew attention to the political landscape of their country. They created an interactive display allowing ambassadors to pay respect to Kim Jong Un with flowers passed out to visitors, and a sign featuring missile silos topped with doves. “They think that these missiles and things like that, they indicate peace…so I think it was cool, going in depth and understanding their culture and how they think violence and war can indicate peace.”
We travel to this conference every year to debate, to participate, and to learn. Even just the small, authentic slice of culture that is Global Village can open our minds and our hearts to things we may not know of or understand. Education is the first step to creating a better world.
