Wagga has donned orange and celebrated Harmony Day, an event dedicated to the celebration of multiculturalism.
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Refugees and their families were welcomed to the Wagga Base Hospital and taken on a tour which included the emergency department, the maternity and paediatrics ward, and the theatres.
Yadav Sing Ale has been in Wagga for eight months as an immigrant from Nepal and has loved his time in Australia so far.
“I am excited to have the tour to learn something new,” he said.
Saira Kamran has been living here for over six years with her family, and loves the community in Wagga.
“In Wagga it’s very peaceful and quiet,” she said.
“The tour is very helpful because we don’t know where the typical parts of the hospital are,” she said.
“Where is the maternity and other things?”
Wagga Community Health refugee project officer Jennifer Macleod said the tours would be very beneficial as it would take away any fears people might have about going to the hospital.
“Coming to a new hospital can be very overwhelming as it’s all new,” she said.
“It can be really good to demystify and simplify the process so they have good access to health care when they need it at the right time.”
At Mount Austin Public School, 20 per cent of the student population speaks English as a second language.
The row of fluttering flags outside the Bourke Street school represent the 17 different nationalities of the student body.
On Harmony Day, students opened their doors to the community for a special assembly that celebrated their varied cultural backgrounds.
The whole school joined in a performance of I Am Done by the Madden Brothers, then watched a video presentation of students talking about the significance of the day.
“We also have an art gallery set up which consists of many different piece completed by each class in the school,” principal Anna Middleton said.
The students were able to take their families and visitors on a tour of the “gallery” they set up with the photographs and some of their own artworks.
At Red Hill Public School, students talked about Australia’s diverse culture and other themes such as tolerance and acceptance.
They learned more about the cultures of the children attending the school on the day that is also the United Nations’ International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
In a variation of the traditional henna tattoo, senior students at the school created their own personal symbols of peace and harmony and then drew them on each other’s hands with pencils.