The Hopkins chapter of Medicine, Education and Development to Low Income Families Everywhere (MEDLIFE) held the Global Banquet, its annual fundraising endeavor, in the Glass Pavilion on Monday evening.
The event raised approximately $1000 to fund MEDLIFE’s upcoming project: building a staircase in the small Peruvian village of Paraíso. The project aims to facilitate the labor of a local Peruvian family.
“There is a family that was living there and had a really hard time moving up and down the steep slopes,” senior Ava Yap, President of Hopkins MEDLIFE, said. “This is actually one of our health care projects. It’s great that we actually know where the money is going towards. We strive towards stable health care solutions and that is the basis of the message of MEDLIFE.”
The event drew approximately 200 people, more than 60 of whom were performers at the event. There were myriad multicultural performances from Hopkins student performance groups, such as Masti, Lion Dance Troupe, and Temp D’Afrique — Indian, Chinese, and African dance groups, respectively. Student bands also performed, including senior Nigel Harris’s band and the Young Villains.
“We were trying to throw together a culturally diverse, global-themed banquet. We tried to pull performances from all over the world,” Yap said.
the event featured cuisine of various cultures, such as Japanese, Indian, Korean, Chinese, Ethiopian, and Italian food. Students received their meal with explanations of the different cultures the food represented.
“I was originally from Hong Kong, so I’m multicultural myself. I thought that this would be a good way to tie everything together,” Yap said. “It’s always good to get multiple groups on campus involved. And what better to do it than have multiple countries represented and to have people appreciate the different cultures and the diversity we have on campus.”
At the event, MEDLIFE played a video clip that highlighted their cause.The multicultural themed event paralleled the global focus of MEDLIFE’s cause.
“[The cause] ties into the MEDLIFE statement by showing that we’re actually reaching out to a community abroad, and a community elsewhere and a culture elsewhere in order to help out. That again ties in with the global aspect of this banquet,” Yap said. “Our MEDLIFE statement stands for Medicine, Education and Development for Low Income Families Everywhere. I guessed we really stressed the word ‘everywhere.’”
The students who attended the event enjoyed the cuisine as well as learning about the dinner’s cultural connections.
“It was definitely a crowded event. I think the main draw was the food; people went back for seconds and thirds. The food itself was awesome - there was authentic Ethiopian along with tons of other options,” freshman Eliza Shultz said. “MEDLIFE members explained the origin of the food as they served it, which probably contributed to the long lines but also helped to emphasize the global aspect of the banquet.”
