Cultural Diversity Week unites and breaks boundaries

THE City of Greater Bendigo has marked International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and National Harmony Day, which both fell last Saturday 21 March, with a week of cultural diversity celebrations.

It all kicked off with another citizenship ceremony at Bendigo Town Hall, which was followed by a dance party in the adjacent gardens featuring music by Latin salsa band Son Quba and attended by a number of Bendigo’s Intercultural Ambassadors.

Other highlights have included cooking workshops at the Huntly Community Hub, African storytime at Bendigo Library with Ras Ato, a symposium in honour of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday at the Great Stupa, and a “moving feast” gathering in Hargreaves Street.

The festivities conclude tonight with a Multicultural Pop-Up Dinner at The Old Church on the Hill.

Melbourne-based Latin salsa band Son Quba put on a slick performance at the Cultural Diversity Week dance party.

City of Greater Bendigo community partnerships manager Amy Holmes said the week was organised to “acknowledge and celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the city’s multicultural communities and the significant contributions they make to the social and economic fabric of our society”.

“Celebrations like this are an important part of the City’s commitment to cultural diversity and inclusion and to being a welcoming and inclusive city, and local residents were encouraged to take advantage of all the culturally diverse activities taking place throughout March,” she said.

“Celebrating our differences, as well as our common interests, helps unite and educate us to understand other perspectives and to broaden our own.”

Fervent fellowship: Christina Napoleon, Multicultural Connect Central Victoria’s Kate Steenvorden and Linto Thomas, and Tee Kaw Plo Soe Mya at the “moving feast” in Hargreaves Street. Photos: ADAM CARSWELL

Kate Steenvorden, incoming CEO of Multicultural Connect Central Victoria, said the week had been “a great time for all Australians to celebrate multicultural communities and migrant and refugee communities, and the incredible contribution that people who have come from overseas make to Australia”.

“Unless we’re First Nations, we’re all migrants at some point in our ancestry, so it’s really celebrating that Australian journey and history,” she said.

“Here in Bendigo, multicultural communities bring so much, both economically, but also in terms of culture and food and music, and enrich our community life – it’s quite amazing.

“Personally, that’s one of the things that I’m most excited about.”