Visitors to this year’s Global Village, held on Tynwald Day in the Arboretum at St Johns, were treated to a multi-cultural experience of food, entertainment and information from various groups in the Isle of Man that have connections overseas.
The new venue for the Global Village saw hundreds of people sampling dishes from Filipino, African, Indian and German cuisine as well as enjoying Indian dancing, karate demonstrations, the didgeridoo and African singing.
Activities on offer were equally wide-ranging and included the opportunity, through the newly-formed Isle of Man Chinese Association, to have your name transcribed into Chinese characters, a competition to guess the temperature of a solar-powered cooker, the chance to make a Fairtrade smoothie on the Manx Co-op’s smoothie bike or to have a henna tattoo.
Many local charities who work overseas took the opportunity to showcase what they have achieved and raise awareness of their future goals. These included the Pahar Trust who work in Nepal, Thare Machi Education which creates DVDs with essential health messages for rural communities in their own language, Friends of Pestalozzi who support international students, Capstone International, Excellent Development who build sand dams in Africa to provide clean water and Do! which works in Uganda. Other groups such as Amnesty International, the United Nations Association of the Isle of Man and the International Black and White Association were also represented.
The Global Village is an annual event run by the One World Centre which promotes understanding and respect for all cultures around the world as well as raising awareness of global issues.
Rosemary Clarke, One World Centre Director, said, “It was an amazing day with so much going on, made even more enjoyable with the good weather. It was fantastic to see so many different people interacting with each other and, being so close to the Fairfield, we felt we truly did bring an international dimension to the celebrations of the Manx National Day.”
Photo - African singing at the Global Village.
