Flower Hill Primary School is a real life melting pot, not just of colorful personalities and academic interests, but of cultural heritage, too. Parents, students and teachers recently celebrated this dynamic during a virtual family night.
“The Prada family opened up their home to about 50 participants so we could learn more about their Columbian culture,” Flower Hill Principal Lucia Laguarda said.
Ariel Prada shared several famous kids songs, including “Arroz con Leche” as well as other popular songs from Columbia. Mr. Prada and his wife, Jenna were generous hosts and the Flower Hill community enjoyed a fun and informative evening.
“He treated us all to a live guitar performance while we tried to sing along,” Ms. Laguarda said. “It was such a beautiful treat.”
Mr. Prada also invited a friend in Columbia to join the Zoom event and using simple ingredients he guided participants in the making of a famous Columbian dish called Cayeye, which is made by using unripe (green) bananas, salted butter, feta or Queso Fresco cheese and heavy cream.
“Everyone had a great time enjoying the customs and culture of Columbia,” Ms. Laguarda said.
Mr. Prada is from the Magdalena region of Columbia. “He showed us where this was on the globe and map and we saw pictures of people, including school children walking home from school and places (mountains and beautiful ocean beaches) in the region,” Ms. Laguarda said. “We also learned about traditions and pastimes. Ariel taught us about the typical food, fish from the sea, as well as the most popular sport; futbol or as we call it in the United States, soccer.”