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For the first program on the new African-Caribbean Interest Floor (ACIF) in Keefe Hall, residents planned to cook a simple meal of jerk chicken and then watch a movie about Sierre Leone and blood diamonds.
“However, we ended up cooking for about an hour and a half, and talking for maybe two or three hours after that. We never really got to the movie part, but the conversations about how foods are prepared, the similarities and differences of spices used, and things of that nature were really helpful and interesting,” says floor president Kameisha Hodge ’11 (Washington, D.C.), an English major.
ACIF’s 10 residents—five men and five women—represent a variety of cultures, including Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Trinidadian, Jamaican, Ethiopian, and African American.
“We all have the commonality of being eager to learn of, and teach others about, the wonders of African and Pan-African (Caribbean) cultures,” Hodge says. “Our goal is to create a space where African and Caribbean cultures are celebrated, because many people still seem to hold the perception that these cultures are basic, or uncivilized. This floor was created to educate people, and to reach out to those who want to be educated.”
Bulletin boards on the floor are continually updated with recent news from Africa and the Caribbean, and there are plans to designate a “country of the week” and post information about it. Eventually, ACIF will plan trips to museums, shows, and events on and off campus.
“I chose to live on ACIF because I have always been interested in learning more about the African and Caribbean culture,” says resident Shariyah Gordon ’13 (Newark, N.J.), a neuroscience major. “Through living on this floor I hope to broaden my knowledge and share the experiences that I have with others,”
This is ACIF’s first year as an organization, and it is just getting its legs.
“Ultimately ACIF hopes to promote the cultures of Africa and the Caribbean not only to the floor but also to the campus at large,” says Faisal Sohail ’11 (Muscat, Oman), resident adviser for the floor and founder of ACIF. “We also want to remove the stigma that a student needs to be from a particular region to be interested in or part of something that promotes that region’s culture. We want to promote this mentality and become a more established floor on campus in the near future.”
Sohail, a math major, had the idea for ACIF after serving as president of the Lafayette African and Caribbean Students Association (LACSA). Although other cultures have special interest floors on campus, there was no floor that represented African and Caribbean cultures, and Sohail thought the campus could benefit from such an organization.
ACIF is planning more events where the floor’s residents can cook together, watch movies, and have discussions about themes that support the floor’s purpose.