(From left to right) Third-year Interior Design students Whitney Chow, Anni Mergeran, Beatrice Muschol and Lucas Nightingale show off their advertising and an oil painting that will be featured as part of their silent auction at IDSwest.

“It’s exciting,” says Beatrice Mushill, a third-year student of Kwantlen’s Interior Design program. Mushil and 10 other members of her program will be on hand Friday night at the IDSwest Trade Show in an attempt to raise the remainder of funds needed to finance a trip abroad.

The group’s presentation, DestiNation, will be their second fundraiser for a trip Mushil describes as “a full seven to 12 days of sketching 24/7 , learning about architeture, design, culture and the differences of culture.” Though the decision about where to go hasn’t been made yet, Mushil said Spain, France or Ecuador are all being considered.

In order to get there, the group is selling tickets for IDSwest for $40, or $20 if you’re a student. The ticket covers access to the show for the evening, free hors d’oeuvres, a student project display and a live performance by musician Sharon Bryson and guests. There will also ve a silent auction of an oil painting supplied by local artist Pamela Hunt.

IDSwest was launched in 2004 and describes itself as Western Canada’s premiere design event, with over 200 exhibitors displaying different products and services to designers, industry professionals and consumers. Tonight will mark the opening of the three-and-a-half-day show, which takes place at Monk’s McQueen, 601 Stamps Landing in Vancouver.

For further information, visit their website at www.idswest.com and if you want to pick up tickets, you can email Destination_fundraiser@live.com or call Amber at 778-928-3672.

(From left) Niki Chung, Carolyn Chow and Janis Brunk, all fourth year Fashion Design students, raise funds for the Julie Hobart SOS scholarship, in the Richmond Kwantlen rotunda on Dec. 4. (Keira Simmons photo)

Kwantlen’s Fashion Design program put on an stylish display Dec. 4, in and around the Richmond Kwantlen rotunda.

The rotunda and a second-floor corridor were full of bright colors and unique designs, and the students who created them. The goal of the display was to allow other students to view the fourth-year students’ portfolios, and to promote the Fashion Design program.

Fourth-year students Niki Chung, Carolyn Chow and Janis Brunke were also fundraising for the new Julie Hobart “SOS” scholarship by selling “wing” necklaces. The necklaces were designed by a Kwantlen grad and local designer of “Mimi & Marge.” Necklaces remain on sale for $50. The proceeds will go towards the scholarship and the Fashion Design program.

A number of colourful, whimsical designs were on display on the second floor of the Richmond campus. (Alexander Nkrumah photo.)

Fashion students mingle amid the display of their work and their portfolios. (Alexander Nkrumah photo)

After a month of fasting during Ramadan, Muslim students at Kwantlen are returning to regular university student life and diet, refreshed and purified for the coming year.

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, started at the beginning of September, just in time for the fall semester.

“Its like a renewal of your faith and a time of self-purification over the span of a month,” said 21-year-old Kareem Elmassry, KSA’s Richmond campus council director. “You go through this one month period of fasting, extra prayers and abstaining from sin and at the end of the month you’ve kind of refilled your faith. It’s like renewing your soul.”

On a typical day during Ramadan, a Muslim student would get up before dawn to pray and eat, then headed to school as normal. Throughout the day they would pray five times and abstain from any food or drink. As dusk approached, they would the head to the mosque where they would then break their fast, with a fig, when the sun went down, then eat a normal meal and head to bed.

During Ramadan, it’s more than abstaining from food and drink – smoking, drinking alcohol, having sex and all other sins are prohibited during daylight hours, more specifically one to two hours before sunrise until sunset.

Rituals are important in the Muslim faith, and Ramadan is a training ritual, one in which the key word is abstinence. Another requirement is prayer five times a day, one of the five pillars of Islam.

“It’s a time when we can feel what it’s like to be hungry, and to understand that no everyone has the privilege of food and water everyday,” said Inam Qureshi, a 20-year-old Kwantlen business student. “You have to understand that Ramadan is about building up discipline and it’s a time to be thankful.”

The five pillars of Islam are: that there is one God; prayer; charity (all Muslims are asked to donate 2.5 per cent of their annual income to charity if they can afford it); fasting, especially during the month of Ramadan; and pilgrimage to Mecca. The first two pillars are compulsory; the others are optional but recommended.

There are exceptions during Ramadan. If you’re sick, traveling, menstruating or in another situation that prevents you from being able to fast, you don’t fast during Ramadan. You are, however, required to make up the month, weeks or days missed at some point before the next year’s celebration of Ramadan.

“I broke my fast for six days this past month while I was sick, but I’ll be making it up soon,” said Elmassry.

“It’s a little painful sometimes when someone is sitting next to you eating a burger, but you get used to it.

“It’s hard, for sure. I’ve been doing it for 10 years, so I’m used to it but I can understand how it can impair some student’s performance, but with practice you get used to it. It’s meant to be a time where all of your good deeds count for more, we can build up some credit in case we screw up later on.”

For most Muslims, the combination of fasting and studying present a few challenges.

“I have an exam on Eid, the final day of Ramadan, which will be a little difficult, but after fasting for eight years, I am used to it by now,” said Saima Iqbal, a 21-year-old Marketing student at Kwantlen’s Surrey campus.

Panteli Tritcher, chair of applied communications and teacher at Kwantlen Surrey’s campus, said “It’s funny because I hadn’t noticed a change in my students whatsoever. I never do. They seem to know how to get through each day as normal during this time.”
By the time students enter into university, they’ve normally been fasting for a number of years, and have practiced so many times that their bodies don’t show reaction.

In Islam, God is thought to be full of knowledge and therefore students are expected to be the same.

“Studying is a part of life that builds character and discipline, the essence of Ramadan,” said Atiq Rahman, a member of the B.C. Muslim Association. “Ramadan is about building up that said character, a relationship with God and bringing God’s attributes and qualities into your life.”

“At the end of the day we are so thankful for our bounties from God,” Rahman.