The first Tamejavi Fellowship Cultural Organizing Program will present ‘No Longer Strangers,’ the grand finale of the Tamejavi Culture and Arts Series, at the Tower Theater in Fresno on Saturday (May 18) at 6 p.m. Myrna Martinez, with the American Friends Service Committee, and fellow Pov Xyooj, join Valley Edition to discuss the event.
Martinez says the presentation will be a multimedia event, featuring traditional musical instruments, dancing, and spoken word performances. She says the event will combine and elevate the stories of the Valley’s diverse immigrant communities.
“The way we see this, this is a very critical moment for people to have a better understanding of who the immigrant communities are,” Martinez says.
The event is the culmination of the Tamejavi Fellowship Cultural Organizing Program. Tamejavi is a made-up word that combines three languages to mean “a cultural market, a place of exchange, a place of gathering,” Martinez says.
Pov Xyooj, one of the ten fellows, will participate in the event. He says the fellowship taught him to organize his community culturally, and start dialogue to foster understanding of other cultures.