Our workplace at the Dandenong Stingrays AFL Victoria Southern Peninsula Region registered for a Taste of Harmony which runs from March 19th – 25th, 2012.
A Taste of Harmony is about recognising and celebrating the rich cultural diversity that exists in the workplace and also the community in general. It coincides with Harmony Day which is on Wednesday March 21st, 2012. It encourages all workplaces to celebrate their diversity by gathering workmates together over a delicious lunch made up of foods from a variety of different countries.
In the morning on Harmony Day Southern Region AFL Victoria were invited down to AMES to give a talk to the students about Australian Football.
AMES is a migrant education centre in Noble Park that helps migrants with education, employment and a whole range of other things to help them integrate into their local community.
Michael Roberts (Region Development Manager) and Peter Dye (Region Development Trainee) introduced the students to the game, taught them the rules of the game and then we had a bit of fun outside kicking some goals, handballing and marking.
The students absolutely loved it and it was a great opportunity for us to engage the local community. Some of the students at AMES are on community detention and none of them have been to an AFL game or played the game before. It was very rewarding to introduce them to our great game and we believe Australian Football is a great for migrant families to integrate into the local Australian community, through something just as simple as having a team to barrack for or talking about the weekend’s game with colleagues, classmates, friends and family.
We then had lunch with everyone and ate food from a whole range of different countries. The food was amazing and we sampled food from Afghanistan, Africa, Sri Lanka and Turkey just to name a few.
It was a great day and we’d definitely like to do it again next year.
Last Modified on 02/04/2012 19:38