November 2002

North Melbourne shows its colours

North Melbourne’s public housing community and its neighbours enjoyed a family fun day and celebration of life in a new country.

Many of the tenants had arrived in Melbourne as refugees from countries in the horn of Africa and, although they are anxious to embrace the freedom and opportunities that are part of Australian life, they are still keen to retain the cultural links to their countries of birth.

The celebration gave many of the people an opportunity to demonstrate their arts and crafts, music, dancing and cooking.

Eritrean singer Ahmed Abdelrehim entertained the crowd with songs from his homeland and acted as master of ceremonies for a number of the formalities on the day.

The crowd also enjoyed and danced to the pulsating music of popular Latin American group Azucar.

Organisers plan to build on the success of the fun day, emulating the popular Harvest Festival at the Collingwood estate and the cultural excitement of the annual Tet Festival celebration at the Richmond public housing estate.