The Kavaḍ/Kushov Cultural Center, which opened in May, has already hosted events in the Community, including cooking and basket-making classes for youth. 

3 Takeaways:

• The Kavaḍ/Kushov Cultural Center hosts traditional and educational classes for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. 
• On June 16, Youth Services and Cultural Resources hosted the first-ever cooking class at the newly remodeled center.
• The children made mesquite pancakes while speaking the traditional language with SRPMIC Youth Cultural Development Specialist Isaac Lopez. 

After officially opening in May, the new Kavaḍ/Kushov Cultural Center in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community held its first cooking demonstration class for Community children on June 16. 

Guided by Youth Cultural Specialist Isaac Lopez inside classroom 107 (Gegusdakuḍ in O’odham and ‘Ayuu Lyuumaav in Piipaash), participants made their very own voihogǐ si’ ovǐ svaḍagam cemait, also known as mesquite pancakes. 

Operating the classroom’s new broadcasting system, Lopez was able to present the cooking demonstration in the back of the classroom, from inside the kitchen as the children and additional staff watched him on the classroom’s live-feed monitor.

“This is why we’re doing this,” said Lopez as he walked the classroom aisles helping the children during the cooking demonstration. “This is a cultural activity for us because the voihogǐ is one of our food sources we live off of.” 

Later, Lopez invited the children into the kitchen area to pour the batter onto the stovetop and flip the pancakes they created themselves from scratch. 

After Lopez showed them how to flip the pancakes, the children took over and laughter soon began to bounce off the kitchen walls. 

Later in the afternoon, Lopez facilitated an additional cooking demonstration, this time with Community teenagers. Although they were shy and tried to remain casual, one could see the room light up as they grew more excited. The teens worked on their collaboration skills as well as brushing up on their O’odham during the workshop with Lopez. 

The fun continued a few weeks later at the Kavaḍ/Kushov Cultural Center. On June 27, youth had another chance to attend a class, this time for bark skirt making. The skirt making class was the first demonstration class hosted there.

Interested individuals can contact the cultural center directly at (480) 362-6325 to receive more information on upcoming programs.