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Blair Dining Hall
Sometimes making a difference involves helping people, one family at a time. College of the Atlantic students and staff have gotten together to help a single mother in India struggling to keep her young children in school-and out of the child labor market.
On Saturday, Nov. 8, COA will offer an international meal, either served at the college, or to take out, consisting of Indian cuisine paired with some Latin American specialties. The proceeds will go to Shahnaz, a young single mother in India, and a friend of the family of one of COA's international students.
Shahnaz is a 30-year-old Muslim woman who was married at age 13 to an older man chosen by her brothers. The man was wealthy, but not kind. Shahnaz was not allowed to leave the house, and her children were treated poorly. Shahnaz decided to do the atypical thing. She left her husband, taking her children with her. Returning to her parents' home, she found she had become a pariah. Her family refused to help her. For four years, she shuttled from place to place. And though freedom meant that Shahnaz was able to teach herself to read and write and grow stronger as a woman, she struggled with health, with long working hours, with ill treatment at some of the NGOs where she was working, and with watching her children continue to be mistreated.
She is hoping to live independently with her children in Pune, India, to keep covering the mandatory fees for their schooling and to also start a business cooking and delivering meals - and so begin down the road of financial independence.
How appropriate, then, to launch Shahnaz on her way with an evening of international fare to COA. A proposed menu consists of vegetable curry, butter chicken, chana masala, aloo mutter, chapathis, raita, chutneys and pickle, along with American salad, and Latin American and European specialities (including desserts), chai, and juice - a true reflection of the international population of COA-and the nation. The chef will be Mary Harney, COA staff member and alumna, who will cook the Indian fare she learned to make from South Asian friends in London.
The meal will be served on Saturday, Nov. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the college's Blair Dining Hall, commonly known as Take-A-Break. Also available, from 5 to 9 p.m., are take-out orders. Suggested donations are $9 per plate for adults; $6 for students. Reservations suggested. For more information on Shahnaz, or the meal, call 288-5015, or better, contact Michael Griffith at mgriffith@coa.edu.
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