Bagram celebrates its first Culture Day

U.S. Air Force Col. Nathan Allerheiligen, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing vice commander, cuts a cake during the Bagram culture day event June 5, 2015, at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The event was held to bring members of different backgrounds across BAF to learn and share each other’s cultures. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Cierra Presentado/ Released)

Bagram celebrates its first Culture Day

Clyd Sadang, 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron contract engineer, plays a ukulele during the Bagram culture day event June 5, 2015 at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. The event was held to bring members of different backgrounds from across BAF together to learn and share each other’s cultures. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Cierra Presentado/ Released)

Bagram celebrates its first Culture Day

Published June 6, 2015
By Senior Airman Cierra Presentado
455th AEW Public Affairs

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- Members of Bagram recently came together for the first time to celebrate culture day bringing in people from many different backgrounds to share culture and enjoy performances.

With the large variety of mixed cultures here at Bagram the culture day committee event drew people from different cultures, including local Afghans, Hawaiians, Tunisians and Germans to celebrate and learn each other’s culture. Members from all branches of the U.S. military as well as service members from the Czech Republic and Georgian militaries were in attendance.

“I thought this was a great opportunity to bring everyone together here and learn about each other’s cultures,” said SrA Aigerim Akhmetova, 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron, Al Udied Air Base, Qatar, C-17 supply clerk and lead POC for culture day. “There’s not many chances where you share a space with so many different people from different backgrounds.”

The event kicked off with a variety of guest speakers and performances. A Hawaiian dance was performed by members of the Hawaiian and Tunisian culture, followed by games and culture discussion.

“During the group discussion we were able to talk and go in depth about our culture and the culture of our coalition partners,” Akhmetova said. “It was a great environment for us to be able to do that with everyone there.”

Guest speaker and local Afghan Shalah Nazir, spoke to the audience about the Afghan culture, history and hospitality. Her goal was to bring more in depth knowledge about the local community and the local practices and culture.

“I was grateful for the chance to be able to educate everyone in attendance. It’s a wonderful experience to be able to share my people’s culture and I hope everyone was able to learn something from it,” Nazir said. “I look forward to doing this again, sharing and learning about different backgrounds.”

The culture day event was the first of its kind, but SrA Akhmetova hopes it won’t be the last.

“The event turned out great. We had awesome volunteers that helped put the entire occasion together, and everyone learned something new about the different cultures that were present,” she said. “I hope we can continue to have culture day for the last few rotations here. It’s a great experience for everyone.”