Harmony Week
By Year 12 student, Hajrah Kamran
I came to Australia in 2012. For me when I think of Harmony Day, it is about freedom of speech, religion, culture and education. The freedom to have an opinion without fear of retribution.
It is a day to celebrate our Australian multiculturism, based on successful integration of migrants into our community. It is about being inclusive and respectful for each other as well as enabling others to have a sense of belonging, regardless of linguistic or cultural background.
This year at Darwin High School, we had numerous activities planned for an entire week, including staff morning tea, cultural dances as well as a challenging Biryani competition. I was involved in organising the morning tea with Mr. Prakash. We had almost all staff members dressed up in their traditional clothes and brought along a popular dish from their respective backgrounds. This included India, Fiji, Japan, Indonesia, Uganda and Ireland and many other countries. I got to see some amazing dancers from China performing a Korean dance.
On Tuesday, I participated in a biryani competition organized by Mr. Northcote, in which I bought my mother’s famous Pakistani biryani. It was a tough competition and all the participants were enthusiastic and excited to participate in this competition. It was a delight to have parents and community members of DHS engage in this competition by delivering enormous pots of biryani to be tasted by others.
On Thursday, I got to witness watching brilliant students at Darwin High School perform popular ‘Bhangra’ dances from India. Overall, we celebrated several cultural activities throughout the harmony week and students had the opportunity to dress up in their traditional clothes.
