"Men build too many walls and not enough bridges"
~ Isaac Newton ~

I hope you were able to join us at last month's International Festival of Raleigh as we celebrated 25 years of making cultures accessible to each other in the Triangle. We enjoyed record attendance at the three-day event, and are already brainstorming for next year's extravaganza. Please see some of the participants and festivities as captured by these great local photographers:

 

Global Village Studio

Alec Himwich Photography

Steve Barsky

 

The Pakistani American Anjuman is featured in this edition's International Groups of the Triangle series. If you can, do come out to support their relief efforts for Pakistan flood victims this Saturday.

 

We're looking forward to seeing you at some of the area's international events over the next couple of months, and hope you also enjoy the international resources and news in this issue.

Wishing you and yours a very peaceful and happy holiday season and a wonderful start into 2011 from  all of us here at International Focus!

Sincerely,

Clodagh Bastian
Executive Director

The Pakistani American Anjuman of North Carolina has been active in the Triangle for 25 years. Founded by a group of NC State graduates, the organization's mission is to promote Pakistani culture in the local community, and to provide a cultural platform for people of South Asian origin. NCPAA is currently pouring their resources into helping the millions of Pakistanis devastated by this year's flooding, Pakistan's worst natural disaster on record. The Walk for 20 Million People to benefit flood victims will be held on Saturday, November 20 at Cary's Bond Park. Come out and support our Pakistani community as they come to their countrymen's aid!

 

"Pakistani society is largely multilingual, multi-ethnic and multicultural", says Atif Ali, NCPAA President, about modern Pakistani culture. "Education is highly regarded by members of every socio-economic stratum, and the country's literacy rate of 55% continues to grow from 3% at the time of independence in 1947. Traditional family values are highly respected and considered sacred"

 

Mr. Ali touts lack of information and negative image as one of the biggest challenges faced by local Pakistanis. "It is difficult for new people from our culture to adjust with all the negative questions they get about us. A lot of negative publicity from the media has made it a challenge".

With its work, NCPAA hopes to serve the 4-5,000 strong Triangle Pakistani community, and to provide a more accurate portrait of its culture's many dimensions.

 

Pakistan Info

Pakistan Photos

Unearthed 400-Year-Old Document Shows How Peruvian Natives Used Numbers

In the early 1600s in northern Peru, a curious Spaniard jotted down some notes on the back of a letter. Four hundred years later, archaeologists dug up and studied the paper, revealing what appear to be the first traces of a lost language. Read the full article...

12 Vanishing Landmarks

A Maya complex, a Haitian palace, and a Swahili town are among the ancient sites being ruined by neglect, a new report says. See the photos...
 
 

Crime Against Tourists In Naples Drops As Italy's Ex-Cons Turn Tour Guides
In a bid to make tourists feel safer in the city, authorities announced in May that they were putting them in the hands of residents who know Naples' intricate streets like no other - the criminals. Read the full article...

 

First Klingon-Language Opera Lifts Off

The Klingons are a warrior race in the Star Trek universe, and there's even been an official language created for it (by a linguist, no less), with an official  Klingon Dictionary, to boot. What's to prevent them from creating an opera around the language, then? Nothing, really. Read the full article...

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