In Chelyabinsk, at the Regional Public Support Headquarters, on Tuesday, April 23, a meeting was held with the participation of students from Africa. Young people from Cote d’Ivoire and Ethiopia introduced the residents of the Southern Urals to the amazing and mysterious African culture.
According to the press service of the Public Support Headquarters of the Chelyabinsk Region, the event participants were able to immerse themselves in the history of the African continent, its beauty and diversity of traditions, not only in theory, but also in practice – with the help of national dances.
As the Ural-Press-Inform news agency previously reported, the meeting took place within the framework of the project “Cultural issue. Getting to know Africa”. It was opened by a lecture where the main speaker was a postgraduate psychologist from SUSU Yaro Abubakar. He told the guests about how the development of African countries took place, recalled the colonization of Africa and the main achievements. Myself Yaro admitted that he loves Russian history, which is why he chose it to study. Harsh winters do not frighten foreigners. He is writing a dissertation on the topic of human adaptation to various conditions and knows what its secret is.
“Adaptation depends on a person’s inner strength. If he has intelligence, desire and energy, no weather will affect his aspirations,” – noted Yaro Abubakar.
To everyone’s surprise, Africa is not as stereotypical as it is thought to be. Yaro noted that the continent is not deprived of water resources, animals do not walk the streets – they live in zoos, and local residents receive education, wear modern and fashionable clothes, develop and preserve the culture of their countries.
“We have national traditions that we try to preserve and remember. For example, the father is the head of the family, the younger ones cannot argue with them, he is always right. Sometimes parents can choose a bride for their son without asking his opinion. When I came to Russia, I became more interested in my native culture, called home and adopted the experience of my elders in order to introduce Russians to our culture,” – recognized Yaro.
Helped guests experience African culture Haile Bizualem Desta. The girl has been studying in Russia for four years, but admits that she misses her homeland. Ethiopian dances, which she mastered since childhood together with her sister, help her cope with melancholy.
“Ethiopian dances are significantly different from other African dances. Their peculiarity is that Ethiopians dance with the upper body, shoulders and arms,” shared Haile.
It is possible to master Ethiopian dances professionally only with time, but the guests of the meeting managed to learn the basics and learn simple movements that they learned together with Haile.
This was her first experience teaching to the general public; previously she had only danced with friends. Nevertheless, the guests were charged with the atmosphere of Africa, danced, laughed and, most importantly, expanded their horizons and became closer to African culture.
