By JIEUN HONG
Reporter
(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — Five exchange students from Pakistan hosted A Walk Through Pakistan, an event seeking to break stereotypes of their home country.

The event was decorated in traditional Pakistani fashion, which included the nation’s flag, and the student’s preparation of popular Pakistani food such as channey, daal, rice, custard, kheer and chicken korma.

Nearly 40 UCM students, faculty and Warrensburg residents attended the event on March 15.

Marium Rasheed, senior exchange student from Pakistan studying electrical engineering, began the presentation with an overview of the country’s diversified culture. Topics such as extravagant weddings, female empowerment, food, henna, traditional dances, the fight against extremism and negative stereotypes were discussed.

“A lot of friends even tell us that they have not heard of very pleasant things about Pakistan,” Rasheed said. “We felt it is our responsibility to let them know about the truth.”

Susan Denham, an office professional in the alumni and development office, said she was surprised to hear about the empowerment of women in Pakistan.

“I didn’t realize there are so many influential and powerful women in Pakistan,” she said. “They’ve talked about that in other presentations about Pakistan, about some other famous people from Pakistan, but to single out the women that were influential – that was something new to learn.”

Katie Kim, freshman international studies major, said the presentation helped her gain new perspectives about Pakistan.

“I learned that extremism is … not something that (Pakistanis) want to be normal, it’s something that they want to end,” Kim said. “And I learned how offended people from Pakistan are when other people assumed that they are extremists. Kind of like you are calling the victim the criminal. Also, I learned that each region in Pakistan has different clothes and different food and even skin color.”

Kim said the most surprising thing in the presentation was Pakistani attitudes toward misconceptions about Pakistan.

“It was surprising to me how patient they were and explaining all of these misconceptions about this country,” Kim said.

Rasheed said the goal of the presentation was to let people know that Pakistan is a beautiful country.

“We are a very peaceful nation that condemns extremism, condemns acts of violence all across the world,” Rasheed said.

Rasheed said it is important to instill in everyone the idea that the world is united against all evils – be it extremism, racism or anything of the sort. She also mentioned that people need to open their minds in order to see the beauty in others and avoid misconceptions.