Each week in April, students gather on the Multicultural Center’s first floor to sip Arabic and Persian teas, listen to Southwest Asian and North African music, study and socialize.
The new Multicultural Student Affairs-organized programming, called Cafe MCC, runs from 2 to 4 p.m. every Tuesday in April.
MSA Assistant Director Aliah Ajamoughli wrote in a statement to The Daily that SWANA cafe culture inspired her to host these events.
“Cafes across Southwest Asia and North Africa are an essential cultural third space dating back centuries,” Ajamoughli wrote. “Because April is a time to celebrate our SWANA communities, I wanted to recreate that atmosphere through Cafe MCC at the Multicultural Center this month.”
Cafe MCC programming follows Persian Heritage Month in March and coincides with Arab Heritage Month, Assyrian Heritage Month and Armenian Heritage Month in April.
Each event features a free raffle with prizes including books, Palestinian soaps and Egyptian loofahs. Cafe MCC events also offer a variety of Persian and Arabic teas, sweets, snacks and games.
Weinberg senior and Cafe MCC attendee Sarine Meguerditchian said the environment reminded her of cafes in Middle Eastern communities, where people converse and enjoy tea and sweets for hours.
“It’s been really nice to talk to people that I’ve never met in my life, and (to) get to meet other people from similar regions with similar backgrounds,” Meguerditchian said.
Medill sophomore Naya Yazigi, an international student from Syria, learned about Cafe MCC through an MSA SWANA outreach email that included a GIF of an actress doing a zalghouta, a joyous, high-pitched ululation often used in some Middle Eastern and African communities.
The GIF, paired with album covers she recognized and other references in the email, made Yazigi feel like the event was “calling for” her, she said.
“Since coming to Northwestern, I’ve really hoped to find events that speak to me personally and fill my nostalgia for home. And that hasn’t been easy,” Yazigi said. “A lot of the events that happen on campus are either done in a good intention, but don’t actually end up fulfilling their goal, or are genuinely not even trying. But all these elements that happened today in the MCC Cafe are exactly what I wished I would have (had) as a freshman.”
Cafe MCC events also aim to connect students with MSA resources and support and encourage continued engagement with the MCC, Ajamoughli wrote.
The inaugural Cafe MCC event drew more than 10 student attendees. Ajamoughli said the first two “went incredibly well.” Depending on student feedback, Ajamoughli wrote she hopes to continue the weekly event after April.
“The mission I had as a freshman was to find this place,” Yazigi said. “I found it now.”
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