Vietnamese festival debuts on campus

With the lingering scent of Bo Kho in the air, brightly colored dresses displayed on the walls and mellow chords of an acoustic guitar, students flocked on Saturday to the auditorium of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center for the First Annual Vietnamese Festival.

The festival was a celebration of Vietnamese culture, said Jon Nguyen, president of VSA.

"It is important to promote what is really Vietnamese and what our culture is," he said. "We put our work into (the festival)."

The dinner consisted of a buffet of authentic Vietnamese cuisine such as Goi Ga, Vietnamese chicken salad, and Rau Cau, Vietnamese gelatin.

Immediately following dinner, the members of VSA entertained the audience with a fashion show featuring traditional and modern Vietnamese clothing, ballroom and traditional dancing and skits. The members also sang songs in Vietnamese to acoustic guitars, most wearing traditional Vietnamese dress.

Handmade Vietnamese artifacts, such as hand-painted dresses and fans which were brought over by the relatives of some of the VSA members, were displayed around the stage.

Phillip Le (junior-mechanical engineering) said he found the festival entertaining and enjoyed the food. Le said he was surprised by the diversity of people, including many non-Vietnamese students, that attended.

Facility manager of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, Magdy Taha, was happy to see many different nationalities participating in the festival.

"I believe an event like this can help promote international culture and enhance the concept of diversity in the student population," he said.

The festival was held by the VSA to expose students to the Vietnamese culture, Nguyen said, and to give them a chance to learn more about it.

The turnout and diversity of students at the festival was great, Nguyen said, and he hopes to recruit more members into VSA. The organization hopes to hold the festival every year in the future, he added, and plans to improve it.

Although VSA is more of a social club presently, Nguyen said, he hopes to get more of a balance between social and political and work with other clubs. The members' main goal is to improve the community, he said, and they hope festivals such as this one will help it reach its goal.