Candlelight Sunday Supper Spring 2023

I-House residents, alumni, trustees and staff gathered on April 30 for the annual Candlelight Sunday Supper in Davis Hall, continuing a tradition that dates to 1913, and which was first held at I-House in the spring of 1925.

Resident fellow Kayal Pillay (Singapore) began the evening by welcoming the audience and introduced resident Landon Wilson (USA), who performed Prokofiev’s Sarcasms, Op.17 on piano before program fellow Arnav Saxena (India) said grace.

President Sebastian Fries reflected on highlights of the year just passed, reciting a list of all resident-led and initiated programs took place in 2022-23, and recognized Resident and Program Fellows, Residents’ Council members and other community leaders. He praised the I-House staff, and presented the Babbott and Richardson staff awards to Marina Robles and Fabio Rodriguez, respectively, of the Facilities Management & Site Operations Department.

Fries introduced guest speaker Cameron Hume, career diplomat and former US Ambassador to Algeria, South Africa, and Indonesia, who said the most pressing issues facing future global leaders will be climate justice, equal access to medicine, refugees’ rights, control of nuclear weapons, and the implications artificial intelligence. Finding solutions for these issues is a daunting task, but Hume reminded departing residents, “There are no moral justifications for not having the discussions that could lead to a safer world.”

To conclude the evening, Residents’ Council President Caroline Haoud (USA) led the Candlelight Ceremony and pledge:

“As light begets light, so love, friendship and goodwill are passed from one to another. We who have come from many nations to live in one fellowship at International House promise one another to pass the light wherever we go.”