At the international school, we form part of a community representative of families from 55 countries. During an International Festival hosted by the school, we learned more about their food, clothing, and culture. The questions were “What aspects of our South African food and culture do we share with others? Where and how do we get the right products?” 

ICS Zurich International Festival

The festival kicked off with a parade. I marvelled at the colourful traditional clothes. After the parade, it was time to taste dishes from over the world. As we passed each stall, the most delicious flavours filled the air, and native language conversations created an upbeat atmosphere. There were games and activities for the children, and learners with musical talents provided entertainment.

Meeting other South Africans

We are aware of four South African families and three SA teachers at the school. As SA mothers, we started our regular meetings for the first time at the end of 2021. The international festival was an opportunity to work together on something close to our hearts. In addition, we could meet the other members of the SA families. 

Team South Africa

Without previous experience, we decided to keep it simple at first with boerewors rolls, vanilla cupcakes, and South African sweets. Karin obtained the necessary sweets, chutney, and decorations during their visit to SA in April. Melanie was aware of a Swiss butcher who could make real South African boerewors for us. I, inspired by my son Jacques’ Cinnamon Club, baked the cupcakes.

Our stall’s location was between Italy and Australia. We decorated it nicely with flags, wooden African animals and proteas made of wire. Our cupcakes and sweets attracted the kids, and various people tried our boerewors rolls. It was the Ms Balls chutney that caught the attention of potential customers. Charl was responsible for the braai, and the kids were excellent with the sales.

We could only smile at their marketing and negotiation techniques.

Language challenges

At Zander’s school, English is the first language, and everyone must also learn to speak German as a second language. Various children, like Zander, speak other languages at home. 

When in grades 6 to 8, they must also take French or Spanish as a third language. Zander chose Spanish. In a previous letter, I shared more about my own language challenges.

They recently had to present a Spanish cooking program in a video for an assessment. Zander and his teammate from India decided to bake Spanish lemon cupcakes called Magdalenas. I was relieved that my role was behind the camera!

They started by listing the ingredients in Spanish. However, it was somewhat funny that the packaging was in German, French and Italian. Without previous baking experience, they struggled to explain the instructions in Spanish whilst also having challenges with the demonstration. I tried to advise from behind the camera. However, I sometimes switched to Afrikaans if I could not find the English words fast enough. I felt sorry for the Indian child! Laughter was our best common language.

My lessons on diversity

As a parent at an international school, I learned that a community could consist of various cultures. For a healthy and thriving diverse community, mutual respect, and willingness to embrace differences are critical. Collaboration is key. Understanding each other is sometimes a challenge. However, you must learn to be patient and show compassion for yourself and others!

Regards

Emsia