El Paso Adventurers Host Cultural Festival
EL PASO, TEX. – On May 18, 2024, the Western Eagles Adventurer Club celebrated World Adventurer Day with an international Sabbath at the diverse El Paso Central English Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In the weeks leading up to the event, the Adventurers learned about different cultures and created poster boards showcasing their findings, such as the meanings of flags, pictures of landscapes and information about typical school lunches. Some children learned about their own heritage, such as Dresdan Barton who studied his German heritage. Others, like Delayla Cazares, Emma Ornelas and Cristiano Bildner, became honorary representatives of Korea and the Philippines. The children eagerly shared their knowledge.
On Sabbath, the children donned their cultural attire and invited the church members to participate by wearing their traditional clothing as well. The church was filled with vibrant colors from around the world.
Michaela Gyabaah, Faith Banda and Kainoa Silva-Sampaio from the Helping Hands class (representing Ghana, Zimbabwe and Hawaii) delivered sermonettes. The entire club, along with church members, sang “Jesus Loves Me” in the native languages of each country represented, including Ghanan, Hawaiian, Swahili, Hangul, Tagalog, Shona, German, Spanish and English. This marked a wonderful close to the Sabbath service and set the stage for the evening’s events.
That evening, a special joint vespers service was held with other Adventurer clubs in the El Paso area. The Adventurers and church members discussed their countries and shared what they had learned.
After sunset, the cultural festival began in earnest. Each culture had a booth where visitors could explore by tasting foods, viewing displays of cultural heritage objects and traditional clothing and even playing games. Highlights included a Scottish castle and putting green, a Filipino bahay kubo (traditional hut) and a Hawaiian 10-foot wave with a surfboard for photos. Attendees could purchase a passport booklet with a Polaroid picture to be stamped at each booth.
Special events included a visit from Miss Teen El Paso, who stopped by the Mexico booth for photos; a paella demonstration at the Spain booth; and a tinikling dance demonstration by Matalin Miguel and Royal Pugao at the Filipino booth, where the audience were invited to try the dance.
The night was filled with laughter, food and fellowship among the El Paso Adventurer clubs and churches. The cultural festival raised more than $3,000 for student scholarships at El Paso Adventist Academy. It was a fruitful night, and there are hopes to make future events even bigger.
