The Jesuit Culture Center in Cairo kicked off its sixth annual cultural festival, entitled From the Nile to the Amazon: Latin Colors, last Thursday, unveiling this year's guest of honor; Latin America. Every year, the center chooses a different theme and guest of honor for its cultural celebrations. This year, there were two main objectives behind the organizer's choice of Latin America. Mahmoud Mokhtar, media coordinator at the Jesuits Culture Center, hopes Egyptian attendees learn about Latin American through the various events that seek cultural exchange. "Also, Latin American countries have a really similar economic situation as Egypt so the program is a chance for us to exchange experiences on how to deal with and overcome economic hindrances, obstacles and challenges, he explained. The festival features a variety of events every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, packed with musical performances, theater productions and a series of lectures, in addition, to a carnival for children and even culinary evenings where both countries exchange recipes for their respective popular dishes. The festival's artists, speakers and directors jumped at the chance to participate in the festival, lured by the immense cultural exchange that is to take place in the next few weeks. One of the participants, Louis Salinas, a teacher and freelance Spanish-Arabic translator, will give a lecture titled "Poor, but. in which Egyptians and Latin Americans will exchange their experiences on how to deal with different economic setbacks and seize opportunities. "It is a 10-minute lecture explaining the situation of the poor in Latin America, said Salinas. "People will benefit from the different intermingle aspects and imagine how they can be much better and improve the living conditions in their countries.I will share my thoughts and other people will share theirs so everyone will gain a lot of knowledge by the end, he added. The first part of the festival will end on Feb. 27, while the second part is scheduled to start on March 3 and continue until March 17. Tonight, theater director Nora Amin presents three short performances that belong to Theater of the Oppressed at 7 pm.
