An international talent show. A phenomenal intercultural exhibition.

These are some of the phrases one could use to describe Harmony UBCO, a multi club collaboration between 10 of our campus’ cultural clubs. The purpose of the event was to celebrate the diversity on our campus and promote greater intercultural communication.

The night started out with food being served to the students and, must I say, what a feast it was! Bangladeshi, Indonesian, Nepali, African-Caribbean, Arab-to name a few- the variety of food was astounding. I got a chance to indulge myself in some delicious dishes that I have never tasted before. Once everyone ate, the audience was ready to see some performances.

The host for the night was special guest Jus Reign’s right hand Babbulicious, ‘Babbu’ for short. The rain might have dampened the spirits of people, but Babbu sure managed to uplift them and cheer the crowd. The performances started with the Okanagan Anthem followed by a performance from the Indigenous Students Association. Being an international student myself, I wasn’t much aware of the culture of the Indigenous people. But to have seen them display their culture through singing some beautiful songs was truly enriching. After that, there was a fashion show by the Nepalese Student Association. It was an amazing effort by the Nepalese community in Kelowna to showcase their culture’s clothing, much of which we don’t get a chance to see. Following the showcase was the Russian Speaker’s Student Association, which was a friendly surprise. I expected to see a Russian performance but, as a bonus, the audience was entertained by dances from Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan! From Central Asia, we then took a jump to South East Asia. The South Asian Student Alliance put up a bunch of upbeat Bollywood performances that surely got the audience dancing to its groove. The unexpected mash up of an American song and Bhangra (an Indian dance form), was a stunning addition to the evening. Following this was the beautiful dance performance by the Association of Bangladeshi Students on a Bangla folk song. Just when you thought there are only performances, in the last act of the night the European Student Association played a game of trivia. Forming teams with the help of some volunteers from the audience and pitting them against each other. We got to know about Europe in a way much more interesting than reading Wikipedia!

This event helped showcase many things about different cultures that we don’t see in the mainstream media. This was made possible because of the diversity on our campus. It is this diversity which enriches our experience at UBCO and helps us get to know more about the world in a more personal way. For many students, it was a chance to see this and know what more UBCO has to offer. I’d like to conclude by giving a huge shout out to the UBCO Students Union for putting together such a great event!!