Children learn about world in culture camp

Jul 25, 2009 (Chattanooga Times Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- GABC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Sarah Hamidi, wearing a peach-colored traditionally embroidered Moroccan dress, holds hands with Maggie Moore as the two dance a Cuban cha-cha-cha.

Around them, other children wear clothes traditional to German, American Indian and other cultures. Beyond the clothing, the children spent the past week speaking in such foreign tongues as Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish.

"I really liked teaching (the other children) the numbers and some words like 'hello' and 'good-bye' in Arabic," said Sarah, 9, while the rest of the group practiced dancing.

"I liked eating the snacks from the different countries," especially the Russian pancakes, 9-year-old Maggie said.

For an entire week in the Museum Center at Five Points, about 30 children representing almost every continent participated in the Mosaic Center's first culture camp, in which they learned different words in Chinese, Spanish, Russian, German and Arabic and tasted dishes from around the globe.

"We wanted children to be aware that people are different, our theme is unity and diversity," camp director Melody Bonilla said. "We just want children to feel comfortable in their own culture, to speak their native language and appreciate others who speak their native language as well."

Four teachers, most of them native speakers, taught the language classes, while the children experienced the sights, tastes and sounds of different countries.

"We traveled around the continents virtually with the children, giving them an idea how children live, the languages they speak, different clothes they wear," German teacher Brigitta HAferle said, "just opening up all that information to them and making them more aware of our friends who maybe live right beside us who come from a completely different continent."

Michelle Hamidi, whose husband is from Morocco, said she signed up her children for the camp as soon as she heard about it.

"I think it's very important for children at this age to be exposed to as many cultures and languages as possible, to eradicate racism at a young age," said the mother of four, including Sarah.

"We are predominantly in a Christian, white area and I want them to know that the world is not all white, it's beautiful colors, and it's not just Christian, that there are many religions and languages and it's all beautiful," she said. "This is the age where their mentality is going to be set for how they view people from different races and colors when they get older."

The Mosaic Center in Cleveland is not connected to Mosaic in Chattanooga, a nondenominational church.

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