May 2017 International Potluck event

The May 2017 International Potluck event featured stories from three cultures: Kurdish, South Indian and Vietnamese.

Moorhead resident and new American Newzad Brifki, whose book tells of his journey to America. Brifki was also a recent candidate for mayor in Moorhead.

Brifki came to Moorhead as a refugee at the age of seven from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 1992. He is married, with three children, and graduated from Moorhead Senior High School. He received an MBA from the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D. He is the founder and director of the Kurdish Community of America, which was established in 2009.

His book is about his life, escaping home, being a refugee and growing up in the United States.

Also, Sherbanoo Aziz shared a delicious dish and talking about her South Indian culture. Aziz was born in Bombay, India, and has lived in the United States for more than 34 years, eight of which have been in Fargo and three in Moorhead.

Sherbanoo made the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area her home for more than 22 years before she moved to Fargo. She is in the process of writing a book on her experiences in North Dakota. Sherbanoo is also taking water color classes. Sherbanoo received her education in Madras at a Catholic school and later at a Catholic university. With a background and education in human resources management field, she worked for the World Bank, an international aid organization in Washington, D.C., and later at the U. S. Department of Agriculture on Rural Economic Development. In Fargo, she managed a grant for $500,000 over three years from the government of The Netherlands (through NDSU), on behalf of International Association for Impact Assessment.

While raising her sons in Washington D.C. area, Sherbanoo introduced a new party concept: invite me to a party and I will teach the entire group how to cook a cuisine of India dinner and tell folk tales, bring costumes for interested individuals to put on and have fun. This was a hobby that began to grow and brought in some extra income. As she began to expand, Sherbanoo got roped into catering and the entire focused changed and she realized that that was not what she wanted to do.

Since coming to Fargo, Sherbanoo has introduced the same concept at a handful of fund-raising dinners and they have been very successful. As a result she has been invited to teach classes in February at the Hjemkomst Center. In addition, Sherbanoo is writing a book of her experiences and recipes and is introducing the same party concept in your homes here, in Fargo-Moorhead area.