Second Episode of ‘Bridges, not Borders’ Held Successfully

Bridges, Not Borders is a homegrown virtual cross-cultural exchange program exclusively designed for teenagers to offer an immersive experience about cultural understanding between nations and people. By offering safe and exciting ways for young people to fulfil their dreams of discovering a new culture through learning, we help create better global citizens. In this episode, we had people from Uzbekistan as our guests. It was held on 19th November 2020. The program started at 8:00 PM (GMT+6) and lasted till 9:30 PM. Mr Arunav Saha, Community Manager of Reflective Teens, was the host on behalf of Bangladesh and Ms Xilola Kayumova, on behalf of Uzbekistan. Representatives from Bangladesh were the Campus Ambassadors from Reflective Teens – Ms Maisha Maimuna, Mr Ahnaf Safin, Ms Shamlima Deb Trena and Ms Chowdhury Rafiah Mahpara. Uring the beginning, we all had a brief introduction and ice-breaking session with each other. Next, we jumped into exhibiting our presentations, illustrating our culture and habits. Representatives from Bangladesh went first, and each of them gave a presentation comprising each segment of our culture. We exhibited our tourist places, music and history in one remarkable presentation portrayed by Ms Maisha. Mr Ahnaf showed us the ethnic and homogeneity, religions, and holidays of Bangladesh in one impressive presentation. Ms Shamlima Deb beautifully explained the food culture, entertainment and clothing habits in one presentation. Ms Rafiah Mahpara displayed the architectural sites of Bangladesh, pastime and hospitality of Bangladeshi people in one presentation and lastly, Mr Arunav portrayed the seasons of Bangladesh prodigiously in one presentation. The people from Uzbekistan beautifully portrayed and explained their culture, clothing habits and hospitality. They showcased their delicacies and spices in one amazing slide. In one of the slides, they showed some of their common words like ‘Hello’ (Salam) and ‘Goodbye’ (Xayr). In exchange, we also tried to teach them some of our common words. It took an exciting turn in the session, and we all shared a good laugh. Lastly, we ended the meeting with a heartfelt goodbye and a promise to exchange songs representing our culture and heritage. To summarize, it was a very nice and educational session where we learned the basics about each other’s cultural preferences.