World comes to Cape Girardeau for Girl Scout International Festival

More than 150 Girl Scouts and adults participated in the Girl Scout International Festival held at Southeast Missouri State University's Dempster Hall Saturday. The Scouts dressed in attire from other countries, learned songs, played with toys and board games and sampled various confections from Germany and Mexico to learn about and experience different cultures.

Cultural representatives included students and individuals recruited through Southeast Missouri State University's International Center and community members.

Lixia Li taught the Scouts about Chinese paper art and how to create detailed scenes with a scissor.

Martial arts and origami demonstrations were provided by Arisa Yasui, Etsuko Kanegae, Ayaka Uchino, Meiko Zenta, Noriko Obata and Takuko Furuhata, representing Japan.

Scouts also learned from live and PowerPoint presentations about Armenia, France, India, Sri Lanka and Mexico.

Girl Scouts donned native costumes and learned to write their names in Arabic from Hanin Wadi, Noor Wadi, Shadan Roumary, Rania Majed, representatives of Palestinians, Jordan and Lebanon.

The event culminated with an African percussion performance by Central Middle School's music group Shere Khan. The performance included African music with drums, recorders and xylophones.