Over 200 attendees at the Fiesta Solidaria
Over 200 people joined for the Fiesta Solidaria on April 24, an annual community gathering and fundraiser organized by students and teachers in the Social Change & Solidarity profile. Student families, community partners, and alumni packed the room to hear student speeches, to see student-produced films and art, and to support the profile’s new and old community partnerships.
Students shared about their three-week solidarity delegation to Cuba which took place in January, and showed a film documenting their experience. “For me,” explained Maira Jade Paynot, a second-year student who participated in the delegation, “the trip to Cuba was an opportunity to stand as learners and allies, and to witness a people who have been living under the weight of a decades-long blockade with extraordinary dignity and creativity.”
Students also spoke about the profile’s first-ever “local stream,” a new experiential course designed in collaboration with local organizations working towards migrant justice and Indigenous rights in Montreal. Mariam Yande Diouf, a second year SCS student who participated in the local stream and produced a short film about the experience, said: “This intensive made me reflect on this thing we call community. I saw how interconnected the social issues in our city are… I realized that this thing we call community is not something that just happens to you. It’s something you nurture.”
This year’s event was marked by the presence of the profile’s new local partners. “It was especially meaningful that we were sharing back directly to our collaborators,” explains Sara Louise Kendall, who coordinates the profile. Community representatives from Solidarité sans frontières, the Immigrant Workers Centre, RATTMAQ, Brique par Brique, and the Jia Foundation were in the room to hear the students speak about the impact of these relationships.
Ovide Bastien, a retired Dawson teacher and co-founder of the North South Studies profile, shared about his experience of the event: “To see how large the attendance was; to hear the very impressive and articulate testimonies of students committed to making our world better; to see just how powerful the bonds were between students and between students and teachers; all this was a very moving experience for me.”
It was an emotional evening as students spoke about moving onto university. “Social Change and Solidarity was a gift to us all these past two years,” said second-year student Victoria Ormiston, “and it’s now a promise to continue doing the work we started here. To be the change and create our own communities.”
Funds raised from the event will go to next year’s Solidarity Delegation to Cuba and Social Change & Solidarity profile activities. Thank you to everyone who attended!
-Submitted by Sara Louise Kendall, SCS Profile Coordinator
