SOMERSWORTH Area residents looking to experience Indonesian culture have an opportunity Saturday, May 15.
The grand opening of the new Indonesian Cultural Center is being held from 3 to 6 p.m. at 156 High St. in Somersworth.
The event, which will show off the center s exhibitions and include food vendors, is being called Phase 1 of the plan to create the world s first Little Indonesia district in the Hilltop City.
An estimated 2,000 of Somersworth’s approximately 11,000 residents are Indonesian immigrants or of Indonesian descent, which, combined with neighboring communities, gives New Hampshire’s Seacoast one of the largest Indonesian populations north of Manhattan. The vision is to build community and enhance the relationship between Indonesia and the U.S., said Raude Raychel, president of Indonesian Community Connect.
SOMERSWORTH Indonesian Community Connect has found a location for the key starting piece of its plans to create not only the world’s first Little Indonesia district, but also bring together Somersworth as a whole.
The nonprofit ICC will soon open its Little Indonesia cultural and community center at 156 High St., a multi-unit commercial building right at the southwestern gateway to the Hilltop City’s downtown.
Located at a well-known corner passed by more than 10,000 vehicles a day, the spot is intended to be a temporary, highly visible kickstart to an ambitious project years in the making.
“This is it,” said Raude Raychel, president of ICC. “Now it’s time to hustle up and get ready because it’s just going to get bigger and bigger.”
SOMERSWORTH Raude Raychel, one of the pillars of the Hilltop City’s sizable Indonesian community, recently became a naturalized U.S. citizen.
The president of the nonprofit Indonesian Community Connect said she did so because she sees it as something that will enable her do even more to help Somersworth as a whole.
“I see it as a (chance) for me to serve in the community, to build the community economically,” said Raychel. “The question came back to me: If you want to be a great asset to the community, what would you do? It’s to do something to make your community a better place. If this is where I’m gonna be, this is where I wanna build.”