WorldFest Woburn Celebrates Diversity

First came dancers in jewel-colored costumes performing classical dances of India. Then Irish step dancers in black, red and white.

Around them, on Main Street at the Common, fabrics, jewelry, rugs, handwork, and food from a cornucopia of countries, including Brazil, Japan, Korea, Peru and Thailand framed the performance area.

drew performers, vendors and visitors Sunday afternoon in spite of heavy gray skies.

It’s always good when you can see and learn about other cultures, other languages, commented visitor Maria Nascimento, who was born in Brazil and has lived here for 20 years.

Similarly, Ivette Manrique said she came from Tewksbury because “I like exposure to international experiences.”  She goes, she said, to the folk festival in Lowell, which is a much larger event.

“I’m glad they’re doing this,” she said.

"When you understand someone’s culture, there’s no ‘us’ and ‘them,’”  said , site director of the , which helped plan the event along with SCI, Woburn.

"It’s all 'us,’” she said.

SCI—Social Capital, Inc.—aims to connect “diverse individuals and organizations through civic engagement,” according to the WorldFest program.

Dougherty described the turnout as good, especially with all the activities going on in the city .

One of the members of learning center’s Leadership Team, Liliane Dosreis, was both “happy and excited” as the event started. She and about a dozen other students went store to store to distribute flyers and made telephone calls to arrange for vendors and performers.

The most important thing Dosreis learned from the leadership classes, she said, was how it feels to work together with people from other cultures.

Dosreis, who came to the United States nine years ago from Brazil, and to Woburn five years ago, said she tried Korean food for the first time at the fair.  “I like it,” she said, but she didn’t know what she had eaten.

Imer Cahuana stood behind a table with fabric panels and instruments from his native Peru. He was scheduled to perform later in the afternoon with the band, Munassiwa, which means, “God is Love.” The Christian music group uses native instruments, he said. Band members come, he said, from Ecuador, Colombia, Guatamala and Peru. 

With the activity on the street, several members of the worked on the Common. Using a photograph taken at the last WorldFest, Mary Kelly created a street scene with the Baptist Church in the background and, in the foreground, a lamppost decorated with a flag and flowers.

“I didn’t know Woburn was such a diverse community,” she said.

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