UF students and Gainesville residents pressed their fingers into red, green and black ink to create the Kuwaiti flag Thursday.
Students made the flag as part of UF students’ celebration of National Kuwait Day on Turlington Plaza. Students also signed posters with messages during the celebration and as they learned about Kuwait.
The roughly 15 students running the event served traditional Arabic coffee and sambusas, or traditional Middle Eastern fried pastries with a savory filling such as meat or potatoes.
Yousef Bawazir, an 18-year-old first-year student in the UF English Language Institute, said he wore traditional Kuwaiti clothing to demonstrate his country’s culture.
“My clothing is called the dishdasha, and it is our traditional clothes,” he said. “It has something you put on your head called a gutra, and then inside there is something to hold it called the gahfiya.”
Bawazir said he was happy to demonstrate traditional clothes to people who may not have known about it.
“I wear it to celebrate our national day,” he said. “We wear traditional clothes, have fun and sing Kuwaiti songs.”
Fawaz Almalki, a teaching assistant from Qassim University in Saudi Arabia, said he enjoyed being able to celebrate with his Kuwaiti friends.
“We celebrate with them as one country, as brothers,” the 27-year-old said. “I came to show my respect to this beautiful country and to show my love.”
