The Voice of Southwest Louisiana

SWLA non-profit
2016 Dancing Gala
By Dalia Matheus, President (International
Club)
Diversity is a key ingredient in building
relationships between individuals from
different cultures. To illustrate, consider
Paella. A cultural dish, Paella consists of
several ingredients including chicken,
seafood, rice, vegetables, saffron, and
other spices. In Paella, each of these
ingredients maintain their individual
flavor while also working together to
create a savory meal that is truly one of
a kind. When I cook this dish at home,
I invite people from different countries
to celebrate the coming together of
our cultures. As when you are cooking
Paella, the first step to understand other
cultures is to know, understand and appreciate
our own individual cultures. By
knowing our own identities and cultural
backgrounds, we will be able to understand
how culture, music, art, food, religion,
gender, education and language
influence our behaviors. Learning how
to communicate and respect each other
will facilitate intercultural understanding
in our community and will also help to
strengthen relationships among people
in our community.
Intercultural competence is critical while
doing business. Today, many organizations
have employees from diverse
cultural backgrounds in order to stay
competitive in this international market.
Many companies understand
that cultural misunderstandings and
stereotypes can negatively affect and
impact their business. It is important
to understand and appreciate how the
values and morals of other cultures
affect the workforce on a day to day
basis. For instance, while some cultures
value punctuality and timeliness,
others do not. In my case for example,
it is common knowledge that Latin
Americans rarely make punctuality a
priority. Instead, we have a relaxed
view of time. However, when I have a
business meeting in the United States,
I strive to be on time so I do not offend
any of the attendees. In order to form
meaningful business relationships, it
is vital to understand the difference in
company cultures.
As members of an increasingly diverse
community ourselves, we need to build
a positive and sustainable relationship
between our international community
that welcome them. The opportunity
for collaboration in our community is
knocking at the door. The International
Club has been an instrument to welcome
people from different countries
and cultures. We welcome diversity and
are proud for the diversity and difference
of our own cultures. The International
Club understands that the world
we share is a multicultural society. The
whole world: economies, religions, governments
and businesses progressively
grow when we embrace differences
in each other’s cultures. Therefore, the
key to Global progress is collaboration
and respect among different cultures
and countries.
Pictured are attendees from previous International Club Galas held at Lake Charles Civic Center during the month of December.
AUGUST 2016 WWW.THEVOICEOFSOUTHWESTLA.COM Volume 4 • Number 1