Entering Anju Singh’s snug shop is like entering another world.
Her Hummelstown store is packed floor to ceiling with items like embroidered saris and dresses, brilliantly colored scarves and sparkling jewelry, most imported from her native India.
It’s a sea of cultural diversity in a rather unexpected place—a small, nondescript building on a residential corner in Hummelstown.
Therefore, it may be no surprise that Singh also is the force behind the Second Annual Unity in Diversity Festival, which is slated for this month in Schaffner Park.
Through the event, she hopes to expose people to other cultures through both local vendors and entertainment.
“Our goal is to get the message across that we are all different,” said Singh. “We can choose to use those differences to divide us or to bring us together.”
Singh started the event last year as a way to introduce midstaters to cultures from around the world. She estimates that 200 people came out last year and is hoping to grow each year by getting more nonprofits and cultural communities involved.
“We are all different in a million ways,” said Singh, who also serves as president of the Hummelstown Business and Professionals Association. “We need to love and understand these differences more.”
Visitors can expect vendors to offer everything from food from Passage to India to local, handcrafted jewelry. There will be performances all day, and all of the performers at the Unity in Diversity Festival are volunteers.
“People are more than willing to donate their time with these events because of what they provide the community,” said Toni Petroski, the entertainment coordinator.
Cultures Together
One of the volunteers is Rachita Nambiar, owner of the Rasika School of Dance. Nambiar will conduct a lecture demonstration, and then two of her students will perform an Indian classical dance in the style known as Bharatanatyam.
Nambiar began studying dance when she was 5 years old in Pune, India. As she grew, she continued studying and teaching. After moving to the United States, Nambiar started her own school with a handful of students in 2008.
“I decided to follow my heart and make my passion my business,” she said, adding that she’s now up to 85 students and teaches in Hummelstown, Hershey, Camp Hill and Harrisburg.
Nambiar is happy to be participating in the Unity in Diversity Festival so visitors can glimpse what her culture has to offer.
“It’s important to show the community we live in because there’s so much diversity in a small area,” she said. “This is a neat way to bring different cultures together on one stage.”
Inspired By It
Tammi Hessen is another performer who followed her heart in pursuing her passion.
Hessen is the musical director and lead of the Bumbada! Women Drumming group. She is a drummer and percussionist who studies the West African hand drum tradition of djembe/dununs. She started in a steel drum band in Baltimore and traveled to Guinea about 14 years ago.
“The drum is a very transformative instrument and is very accessible to people,” said Hessen.
This year will be the group’s first performance at the Unity in Diversity Festival, and she expects about 12 women to perform for 20 to 30 minutes.
“When you start to do something like this in the community, it has a place,” said Hessen. “It’s important because people are drawn to it and inspired by it.”
Petroski, the entertainment coordinator, said they learned a lot last year and that this year’s event will have even more to offer visitors.
Other performances, she said, will include classical Chinese dance, ballroom dance and three different styles of belly dancing. One of the musical acts includes a student from Lower Dauphin High School who has started his own band.
Last year, the Lower Dauphin High School Diversity Club put on a fashion show, modeling clothes many teenagers in Hummelstown may not have seen before. Singh said the Diversity Club will be participating again this year and looks forward to having younger people involved as much as possible.
“We’re getting youth involved in the community,” said Singh. “This is something to peel them away from computers, television and phones.”
In the end, the Unity in Diversity Festival is meant to both educate and entertain.
“Come on out, have fun, enjoy the day, and learn what other cultures have to offer,” said Petroski.
The Second Annual Unity in Diversity Festival is scheduled for Sept. 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Schaffner Park in Hummelstown. To learn more about the event, visit their Facebook page.
Author: Valarie Potell
