International Mother Language Day
Hello Everyone!
On the 24th of February, EMIC has organised the International Mother Language Day, as part of the CommUnity Table project!
It was a privilege to have the Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Jean Butcher, and the Lady Mayoress of Canterbury, Diane Baldock and, through a recorded message, Saida Muna Tasneem, the High Commissioner of Bangladesh in the UK, as special guests, who spoke about the importance of the day.
The chair of EMIC, Dr. Radu Stancu, has opened the event with a powerful message focusing on the importance of respecting and even trying speaking the native languages of our ethnic minority communities, as a sign of respect and understanding for the cultural identify of each individual.
Celebrating the International Mother Language Day on 21st February every year was the initiative of Bangladesh and was approved by UNESCO in 1999. Dr Mohammed Sakel, Vice Chair of EMIC, talked about the selfless sacrifice by the Bangladeshi students who fought for the recognition of Bengali (Bangla) language.
Adrian Holliday, professor of Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Communication at Canterbury Christ Church University, gave an inspiring lecture on Hybrid Identity. In addition, Dr. Aga Gordon, EMIC Trustee and CCCU Senior Lecturer, led a very engaging multilingual activity focusing on the different languages people spoke.
The main highlight of the event was the great cultural variety contributed by our guests and volunteers, including cultural displays, Japanese origami class by CCCU students, poems, songs, dancing, audio word recordings in different languages, and the wonderful variety of ethnic cuisine that attendees had the opportunity to share.
A warm thank you to Lillian Ndwaula, our event coordinating Manager, to all our Trustees, programme contributors and Volunteers who have made this wonderful event possible, Babrani Foods, led by Paul Babra, for the amazing variety of ethnic minority cuisine, and to our generous funder, The National Lottery Community Fund.
We are looking forward to see you at our next event, the European Cultural Day, on the 27th of April.
