The College of New Caledonia (CNC) turned into a small world on Wednesday afternoon, with 13 different cultural books on display.
Global Living Library is a sit down, conversational setting with one catch… the books are actual people from several international backgrounds, teaching students and faculty about their culture, religion, language, and ways of life.
One of them is 22-year-old Michal Ramdas, who details about her homeland of Suriname in South America in her book entitled, A Country Unknown.
“When I tell people I’m from Suriname, the first thing they ask me is ‘Where is that?’, because people don’t know that we exist. We’re here; we speak Dutch, not Spanish and we’re very diverse in culture and race is everything. It’s a great country to live in.”
.@cnc_bc_ca welcomes Michal Ramdas from #Suriname in S. America; says country is diverse, people don’t know much about the country #CityOfPG pic.twitter.com/mXjE0kmBjX
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 15, 2017
Ramdas came to Prince George on a student-exchange program in December, who adds she’s embraced the cold weather of Northern BC.
She explains in her book that the small nation of only 500,000 people is very accepting.
“What definitely stands out for my country is that we are diverse, but we’re also very integrated; we like each other, and celebrate each other as people.”
Ramdas says Suriname is a former Dutch-colony, which even has a Mosque and Synagogue sharing one piece of land as neighbours.
She encourages everyone to go and learn another culture.
“I would say explore and don’t be ignorant because there are so many countries that are just waiting and that are just really amazing.”
The Global Living Library event also included people from Colombia, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, and even ones from as far as India and China.
PHOTOS: @cnc_bc_ca hosts #GlobalLiving Library; 13 INT’L visitors talking about books in their home countries #CityOfPG pic.twitter.com/hut9I8rSb8
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 15, 2017