Our Story:
Have you ever tasted Injera? Participated in a traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony? Know why mooncakes can only be bought for one month a year?
Multiculturalism is a cornerstone of Australian life, but sometimes it is hard for us make personal connections with people from diverse cultural backgrounds in our everyday lives.
The Community Harvest Project can provide this intimate experience and exchange!
This project is an expansion of the successful Connecting Cultures program run at North Melbourne Language & Learning (NMLL) from 2015 – 2017, to provide ongoing opportunities and support to the local multicultural community.
The Community Harvest Project will showcase the living traditions of the local community through a large multicultural festival. This will be a celebration of the diverse cultural groups of the inner North-West of Melbourne and the different ways in which Harvest traditions are celebrated around the world. The festival will focus on traditional foods and will take the shape of a thriving marketplace. Our community members will participate in a series of training workshops and mentoring sessions leading up to the festival, gaining valuable skills, experience and the confidence to share their culture through foods stalls, cooking demonstrations, performances, and displays.
With your support the Community Harvest Project will:
- Be run for and by the community
- Promote sharing, harmony and social cohesion between the culturally diverse communities
- Reduce prejudices, misunderstanding and barriers
- Make a difference by valuing and adding to the skills and knowledge of our culturally diverse communities
- Address the issue of inequitable access and barriers to employment through training and mentoring
Why is this project needed? Rather than hear from us, this is what our community says.......
"Connecting Cultures has been good for the people living here, it helps us to know we have a future, and there is somewhere we can share what we know. We need to be reminded of what we know " - Mitselal Gebrekidan (community member / NMLL microbusiness course participant)
"I wish everyone in the world could get along like this. The world would be a much more peaceful place " - Community member speaking about the Connecting Cultures 'LIving Traditions' Festival, November 2017
"Australia is a very multicultural country. This project makes for harmony between cultures." - Moon Huang (community member / NMLL microbusiness course participant)
Testimony: A few of the Connecting Cultures Events held in 2017:
Community Harvest Festival 2017
'Breads of the World' Cooking Workshop 2017
Living Traditions Festival 2017
Who we are:
North Melbourne Language & Learning is a Not-For-Profit Organisation dedicated to delivering English language courses to the multicultural communities of Inner North West Melbourne.
Our budget: