Something to Savor: My Sister’s Kitchen – Giving U™

I spent my last day in Australia volunteering with a fabulous nonprofit organization: Darwin Community Arts (DCA). DCA is, in essence, an incubator for social enterprises and nonprofits promoting the arts and community development in Darwin. One of these great outcrops is a program called My Sister’s Kitchen.

My Sister’s Kitchen brings together refugee women to share their stories and recipes. By providing a warm, neutral space, refugee women from different countries are able to come together in a communal kitchen to tell of their experiences from their home countries and their new life in Australia.

I was lucky to volunteer the day of DCA’s monthly community dinner. My Sister’s Kitchen catered the event and from 10:00 in the morning a group of dedicated ladies from Burma (and me) patiently washed, chopped, and shredded vegetables for the multi-ethnic meal. The menu offered an eclectic mix of cuisine, including an egg curry, a traditional slaw, and the all-important rice.

The evening’s festivities featured musical performances from several international communities. The first group was a dance quartet from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), followed by children and teens of Irish-Australian descent proudly demonstrating their Celtic dancing in glorious costume.

It was the incongruity of the two completely opposite forms of Central African and Celtic dance that really showcased the charm of the evening and underscored the diversity of Darwin’s refugee population. (That, and the fact, that the Celtic dancers were joined in high-stepping fashion by one of the Congolese men during their finale — Too funny!)

Next up was a Nepalese dancer (a frequent contributor from what I hear), and a Burmese singer. To wrap up the show we had a demonstration by an innovative iPad band that fascinated the children (and admittedly some adults).

Honestly, the evening couldn’t have been more culturally diverse or more interesting – a true success and testament to the creativity of DCA and the Darwin community!

Unfortunately, community arts programs are always lacking in funding. So if you wish to support DCA and their arts-inspired community outreach programs, please do! All the information you need is right here!

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 17th, 2011 and is filed under Hot Orgs.