Multicultural BRIDGE celebrates year with Solstice Dinner featuring storyteller Amber Chand

Great Barrington -- Local nonprofit organization Multicultural BRIDGE (Berkshire Resources for Integration of Diverse Groups and Education) capped off its year of programs and work with its Solstice Dinner on Saturday, December 20, at the organization’s Solidarity House.
Eighteen years after founder Gwendolyn VanSant started BRIDGE, the organization moved its programs to its new location at 965 Main Street. The nonprofit held a ribbon-cutting event in May.
The December 20 event included a dinner catered by Andre Lynch, owner and chef of Dre’s Global Kitchen in Pittsfield.
Andre Lynch, owner and chef of Dre’s Global Kitchen in Pittsfield, who catered Multicultural Bridge’s Solstice Dinner. Photo by Shaw Israel Izikson.At the event, storyteller and writer Amber Chand, who currently lives in Great Barrington, previewed stories from her forthcoming book “Tales of the Boatwoman” about her ancestors who came from India. “Through my storytelling, I am transporting people into a world that is based on my ancestors,” Chand told The Berkshire Edge before the event. “While my ancestors came from India, I was born in Africa. There was an entire journey that was taken by my family between coming from India to Africa.”
Chand clarified that while the first part of her book includes ancestral stories, “some of these stories are fictionalized in a sense, but they all have threads of fact.” “The power of my imagination took me into their past,” she said. “These are not memories because I wasn’t there in their lives, but I tried to imagine what their lives would be like.”

Amber Chand presents stories from her forthcoming book “Tales of the Boatwoman” at Multicultural BRIDGE’s Solidarity House. Photo by Shaw Israel Izikson.

The audience at the Dec. 20 event appears captivated by Chand’s storytelling. Photo by Shaw Israel Izikson.One of the stories Chand shared with the audience was titled “Wife Number Two.” “My grandfather eloped with my grandmother, but then he brought another wife into the marriage,” she said. “This story is quite evocative and will take you on a journey.”
Chand said she was honored to be asked to speak at Multicultural BRIDGE’s event. “I call Gwendolyn the queen because, really, she has created something from nothing through persistence, vision, and courage,” Chand said. “In this time that we’re living in that is so bewildering, this organization is a lighthouse, not a fortress. A lighthouse spreads its light into the community, and it is very steady in its mission. A fortress tries to protect itself, especially at times when things are intense and difficult.”

Multicultural BRIDGE founder Gwendolyn VanSant (foreground). Photo by Shaw Israel Izikson.For more information about Multicultural BRIDGE and its programs, visit the organization’s website.
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