Lincoln School United Nations Day

October 18th was Lincoln school’s UN Day. Wow, what a cool celebration. All of the students wore their traditional clothing from their home countries and invited their parents to come and celebrate for the day with speakers, projects and activities. The parents all brought food from their home countries and let me tell you it was a smorgasbord. The best damn potluck I’ve ever been to. Imagine 43 different nationalities all bringing their culinary specialties to share for free!
But it wasn’t the food that made it finally sink in that I am teaching and living in an international setting, but the stunning visual and emotional reaction I felt when I watched each child, dressed from around the world stand with pride and carry their “national” flag to the stage. Living in the US, I always preached diversity and international awareness and even promoted peace, but it remained at an intangible level. The experience of seeing the world in front of me, as students that I know and relate to, made the world feel so much more intimate and real.
We have a lot of Tibetan students, (most of whom are Nepali citizens and only refer to themselves as Tibetans in the Lincoln school community or around American tourists- tapping into the national goodwill towards anything Tibetan). We also have Chinese students; some with diverse backgrounds such as Ella, one of my ninth graders. Her Dad is Norwegian and her mom is American; she was adopted from China. Ella stood proudly bearing the Chinese flag with several students carrying the Tibetan flag; they stood together in friendship with their flags crossed in unity. The next thing that blew me away was that it seemed for the Pakistani families- who appeared very close knit and didn’t mix as much with many of the Western or African families- that they felt a closest connection to the Indian families. Next thing I knew, the Indians and the Pakistanis were talking and laughing together, understanding one another’s’ culture and language. When I saw the Israeli kids holding their flag conversing with the Palestinian (our next door neighbor!) and his flag, I finally saw and believed that world peace is indeed possible. Through dialogue, friendship and building relationships we can challenge and even defy the dictates of nationalism and break the limiting binds of political identity.
It strikes me that one of the lessons of living internationally, is that you bond with anyone who can understand you- even if at home we would be enemies. Plus, teaching in an international school, I am seeing that we can all understand one another and bridge the gaps of geography, language, politics, religion and culture. It is very cool.