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By
Ricardo Valdivieso and
Yolanda Puyana
ROANOKE.COM COLUMNISTS
On Saturday and Sunday, we are
all invited to the 15th celebration of Local Colors that takes
place every year in downtown Roanoke. According to founder and
director Pearl Fu, this year there will be more than 70
countries represented.
The presence and participation
of such diverse cultures, the sound of music from other
continents, the encounter with so many different languages among
the revelers and the fragrant delicacies will make us forget our
everyday worries and will revitalize us for the upcoming year.
It will convince us that we are not alone and that even though
we are from other places, we are from here as well. Nearby are
other lives being lived, spoken and written in Portuguese,
German, French, Arabic, English and Spanish.
Roanoke is the home and refuge
for numerous people who with the passing of time have
congregated in this valley, each with his or her own history,
each one for different reasons, but all agreeing on the desire
to live our lives with the dignity and peace that every person
deserves.
We should be eternally
grateful to Pearl Fu who through her vision and caring has given
us a voice, and who has given us this gift of a happy afternoon
for the past 15 years. It is an afternoon of encounters, an
afternoon when we remember our places of origin and an afternoon
for always.
Thank you, Pearl Fu — the
immigrants of this wonderful valley of
Roanoke will always be grateful to you. With our participation we will make
this 15th festival something unique and wonderful.
Local Colors is an
organization that works throughout the year creating programs
that promote and develop cultural diversity. This year Local
Colors will actively participate in the preparation of the
second Latin Festival that will be celebrated in October.
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