McKenna Field
This is a community Iftar.
Bonnie Glass-Coffin
This is the second annual community Iftar.
Rana Abulbasal
Iftar is the Arabic word for breakfast.
McKenna Field
It’s the breaking of the fast for Ramadan.
Rana Abulbasal
During Ramadan, we don’t eat from sunrise to sunset. And so our first meal is the one at sunset, so it is the equivalent of breakfast.
Mckenna Field
We’re all sharing a meal together. Food is a good way to bring people together.
Rana Abulbasal
The community is very small.
McKenna Field
People of the Islam faith, that’s kind of a minority here in Cache Valley.
Rana Abulbasal
The majority of the community is made up of students, because this is a college town. We also have a big part of our community that are refugees. I’m used to being in a community where at least one event happened during Ramadan. And when it did not happen, I felt like I had to make it happen.
Bonnie Glass-Coffin
Religion is one of those things that people have very, very strong opinions about.
Rana Abulbasal
Especially in a place like Utah, where it’s not exactly a very diverse place, people don’t really have a lot of opportunities to get to meet people from outside their faith or their race or their cultures.
McKenna Field
We have people who are Muslim and then people who are from different faith traditions.
Bonnie Glass-Coffin
These events help to build relationships of trust and appreciation and give us the opportunity to intentionally engage, to learn something about one another and to find common value.
McKenna Field
Communities are built with people who are all from different backgrounds.
Bonnie Glass-Coffin
We need to be able to have conversations with people who are of different traditions. This is what I live for.
McKenna Field
Cache Valley is more diverse than we think.