Community
26 August, 2024
Culture in the spotlight
AIMING to celebrate the cultural diversity and contributions of migrants and refugees, Centacare FNQ is hosting a Multicultural Extravaganza and the city’s inaugural Human Library next week.
August is Queensland’s Multicultural Month and Centacare FNQ wants to celebrate it big with the community and shine the spotlight on Cairns’ migrants and their contributions to diversity, society and economy with two free events open to the public on Wednesday, August 28 and Thursday, August 29.
The Multicultural Extravaganza on August 28 at the Elevation Church on 83 Pease St will welcome 90 humanitarian entrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Afghanistan with an exciting line-up of music and dance, cultural workshops and a delicious array of global tastes and flavours.
“Our Multicultural Extravaganza will firstly be a welcome to Australia for the new arrivals who have come on mainly humanitarian visas,” said Centacare FNQ’s multicultural services manager Andrea Obeysekere.
“It’s a wonderful event to showcase the multicultural fabric of our community in Cairns. We’ll have some of our established communities who have settled here over the years with musical and dance performances and food from various backgrounds and cutting a cake to celebrate their settlement in Australia,” she said.
Additionally, the event will hold a graduation ceremony recognising the efforts of 20 Skilling Queenslanders for Work trainees who have completed Centacare FNQ’s innovative and award-winning UpCyclinc program and moved into employment.
Then, on Thursday, August 29 (5pm and 7pm) and Saturday, August 31 (2 pm and 4pm), Centacare FNQ will present its first Human Library events at the organisation’s Cairns Central hub. This inventive event is an opportunity to enjoy interesting migrant stories: human beings serve as “open books”, sharing stories and engaging in conversations with guests.
Human books include Ambika Gautam, Javier Suarez, Fabien Rwigema and Madiha Jamil.
“This is a chance to meet real humans who have migrated to our region, all from different backgrounds – migrant and refugee – and learn more about their experiences,” Ms Obeysekere said. “All events are free so come and celebrate and learn with us.”
