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October 18, 2009

Residents at mental health center get taken around the world

By Brian Livingston The Meridian Star Sun Oct 18, 2009, 12:14 AM CDT

It isn't every day you get to sit in a chair and get transported to different corners of the world.

Tuesday at the Central Mississippi Residential Center, the residents there were afforded just such a trip as exchange students and teachers from Cameroon, Kenya, Korea, China, Russia and Turkey brought to life the unique qualities of each country. It was a special opportunity to bridge the gaps of peoples in different countries and extend a hand of understanding.

"The world is getting smaller and smaller by the day," said Debbie Ferguson, who is the director of the Newton facility. "Technology has afforded us as people living on this planet the ability to close distances thereby opening up opportunities to get to know our neighbors."

The annual program is organized by the Department of Mental Health's Multicultural Task Force. The purpose is to bring together people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds so a common understanding of each other can be obtained and maintained. By learning of a different people's origins and present day behavior and way of life, racial, language, and cultural barriers can be brought down so that a level of understanding is achieved.

"We need to learn about those people in other countries so that we can get along better," said Ferguson. "How else can we live peacefully if no one knows what the other wants or needs?"

Exchange students and instructors from Cameroon, China, Kenya, Russia and Turkey, are part of the International Studies Program at JSU. They took an active part in the exhibition which showed examples of products and merchandise from each country and an accompanying film presentation. There was even a fashion show to end the presentation as the exchange students modeled traditional clothing from their country.

The audience, in addition to the residents of the facility, was also made up of dignitaries from Newton and staff members from the facility itself. Ferguson said this is the third year the program has come to Newton and each year it becomes more and more popular.

"The response has been wonderful," Ferguson said. "The community attendance has increased with each passing year."

It is hoped an understanding hand is extended each year so that this shrinking world will be better able to live in harmony.

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Residents at mental health center get taken around the world

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