Fatumata’s tale around cultural diversity

Fatumata is from Guiné-Bissau and arrived in Portugal a couple of years ago. By then she was 21 years old, and she came to Lisbon to prolong her studies. Two weeks after her arrival in Lisbon Fatumata started a Portuguese language course for foreigners. Fatumata confesses that she still remembers the feeling of her first day. She was surprised by the large diversity of people from all over the world —Everyone looked strange! —said Fatumata– even the physiognomy of the people caught her by surprise since everyone looked so different: from the shape of the eyes, skin color, hairstyles, colors, and textures, to the attitudes… In the beginning, she had mixed feelings about it and she even thought of quitting the course. But then, slowly, a sense of curiosity started to arise, and she put her fears aside. One day, — she reminisces with enthusiasm — we were all standing outside during the break without really knowing what to say to each other.

Some of us would look at the floor, others diverted their eyes to the sky so as to not face others when the teacher arrived and said: —Well, let’s see what the odds are of all of us enjoying the same food. Some of us smiled a little bit, and many of us looked at each other without really knowing what to say but the teacher carried on. — Well, let’s take some steps. I will give you three challenges: first, let’s play the game of compliments. How do you greet someone in your country? Next, we´ll do a “girl-to-boy dialogue”, to come up with three cultural traditions that you think are unique from your country. Remember to listen actively, and observe the gestures, and manners of your pair so you can grasp as much information as you can. This day was hilarious, and all of us after an initial apprehension started to relax after three hours, we were all laughing together. I learned a lot of useful and valuable things. One thing that for me is very important is to never make an assumption.

People have different habits and beliefs, therefore, the possibility of someone doing something with a specific intention very different from the one I perceived is great and very real. To put an end to the story, at the end of the exercises we were all very tired and excited. And out of the blue, the teacher appeared in the room with a gallon of water and said: –I’m really thirsty! Does anyone want some water? And slowly, one by one we all grabbed some water. And then the teacher looked at us attentively and spoke: what do you think about water? At this moment, it is my favorite food and all of us smiled and nodded in accordance with him. You see, - he continued - there is always something that unites us even when diversity is huge. You just need to invest a little in discovering the particularities in order to unfold the group´s oneness.