(From left) Fort Leonard Wood international military students Flying Officer Naomi Chindo, Lt. Binta Adams and Capt. Rejoice Igoh with the Nigerian Armed Forces, stand in front of their informational booth Sept. 25, as part of a prelude to the Know Your World event being held from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 4 at Nutter Field House. Hosted by the International Military Student Office, the event will feature booths created by Fort Leonard Wood’s international students, who will highlight cultural pride, music, informational displays and even food from their home countries. Egypt, Estonia and Czeck Republic also participated in the prelude event held at Thurman Hall.
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FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — International military students from 38 countries are preparing to share their cultures with the Fort Leonard Wood community from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 4 during the 22nd Know Your World event in Nutter Field House.
Hosted by the International Military Student Office, the event will feature booths created by Fort Leonard Wood’s international students, who will highlight cultural pride, music, informational displays and even food from their home countries.
“There will be food, drinks and lots of fun. The students will set up tables and have display boards that will display portions of their culture and their country,” said Micah Pereza, IMSO Field Studies Program coordinator. “A lot of (the students) will have maps and military related items on their boards. Some will have geographical information that shows how their country is laid out, what their economy is like in their country. We have a few that will dress in their traditional clothing from their country and the rest will be in their (military) dress uniform.”
Kenneth Howard, IMSO Field Studies Program manager, said the purpose of Know Your World is twofold.
“No. 1, it’s to allow the students to meet people from the community so they understand more about us,” Howard said. “And it is to allow the community, both local and military, to get to know our students and to know a little bit more about their countries and their traditions so we can create more of a community.”
Capt. Abdulaziz Al-Kharafi is a combat engineer school instructor in the Kuwaiti army. He arrived at Fort Leonard Wood in March to attend the U.S. Army Engineer Captains Career Course.
He said this is his first time in America, and he is excited to showcase his country’s culture and history.
“I’m going to teach (the community) about how we do the food, because everyone likes food,” Al-Kharafi said. “I’m going to show some sort of history like how people used to work to bring food to the table.”
Al-Kharafi said he wants to show how other cultures have influenced his country.
“Most of my ancestors used to be pearl divers and they would take the seashells and sell the pearls in India. That is why we got the spices from India that changed the food traditions in Kuwait,” Al-Kharafi said.
Capt. Kemajl Haliti, a planning and budgeting officer in the Kosova national guard who is also attending the ECCC, said in addition to sharing his country’s food, culture, traditional clothing and music, he also wants to learn about the other countries represented at the event.
“I want to be able to see what others bring," Haliti, who is also in America for the first time, said. “I want to try different countries' foods. I want to try Arabian Gulf type of food. They have special spices they put on their food, so anything from the gulf."
Howard said Know Your World provides a unique opportunity to learn about many cultures in one place.
“The goal of this program is to give people the opportunity to travel around the world without actually leaving Fort Leonard Wood,” Howard said.
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