Andrew Ibrahim has a story to tell. Like many students in the Edmonds School District, he’s from another country, speaks a second language and knows other traditions.
Culture shock, for him, makes itself known in small things.
“In Egypt, people have to be called by a title such as Mr., Uncle, Aunt, Lady or Miss, so I was not comfortable when a guy at the front desk in the airport called my father with just his name,” Ibrahim wrote in an essay.
The essay is one of almost 100 entries received in a Pictorial and Essay Project, part of the 2007 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration for the city of Lynnwood. The celebration kicked off this week.
Students from Lynnwood schools in the Edmonds School District, as well as Edmonds Community College participated.
“The demographics of the city have changed,” said Wally Webster, Lynnwood Diversity Commission chairman and chair of the committee for the school project.
The idea behind the project was to foster understanding.
“If people are going to live next door to each other, we want to make sure they understand, appreciate and value the differences of the individuals living next door,” he said.
The committee bought about 350 disposable cameras and gave them to students to take pictures – or write an essay – to tell the story of their ancestry, culture and traditions.
Some students turned in poster boards with drawings or pictures of flags, national food, dancers in cultural dress, family, friends and funerals.
There were also black-and-white art photos that included a mother making Thanksgiving dinner, foreign coins and Christmas presents under the tree.
Still others wrote that they feel they have no culture, or are disconnected from it. One student portrayed those feelings with a fuzzy family picture, another with a photograph that had pieces missing from it.
Most of the entries likely will be shown in public, said Sue Venable, assistant superintendent for the school district.
The committee is still deciding how to showcase the entries, but possibilities include showing them at the Lynnwood Convention Center, City Hall, the Lynnwood library or Alderwood Mall.
They also could also be shown during cultural events, Webster said.
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