REPORT
The United Dashain Festival, organized by the United Dashain Planning Committee composed of members from Nepalese and Bhutanese communities in the Triad, was the starting point for coming together. The Sunday, September 25 event was extremely important because it brought together people that have been traditionally separated by national boundaries, race and caste, but who shared a common historical culture and language. The Dashain holiday is important to all of us around the world — too important to keep us divided. Food, culture, sports and transportation committees worked together to create a successful day-long event of dance, music and traditional Nepali and Bhutanese foods. Everyone felt this was a remarkable first step in community building, trust and cooperation.
Representatives from the Bhutanese community in Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh attended, while officers of the Triad Nepalese Community Center contributed their strong support and organizational effort. We were happy to see other visitors and guests come share with us including former Mayor Yvonne Johnson. We were proud to share our culture with everyone. Many Bhutanese and Nepali artists and singers made the audience happy with their good humor and joyful presentations.
Dashain takes place over many days! We continued our community-building with the United Dashain Soccer Cup, a friendly competition that we played on October 8 in Greensboro. Five teams competed all day without rancor, disagreement or unsportsmanlike conduct. Players shook hands and congratulated one another. All fears of rule-breaking turned out to be groundless. Nepalese and Bhutanese played hard but fair. We truly believe this set a wonderful example for our young men and our communities.
We are very grateful to FaithAction International House for acting as our fiscal sponsor in our grant application to the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.
Narayan Khadka
Member, Council of Cultures
Member, Council of Cultures
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A month ago I was uncertain if the two communities had the will to come together. Then two weeks ago everything happened like magic, committees sprang up, soccer schedules were planned, goats were bought, artists and performers were contacted. How could they get a sound system? Where could they hold Dashain? How could people without cars get there? For every obstacle and last minute change of plans there was an answer — and it inevitably came from the our local community. U Nandawantha loaned the sound system, Kerri Mubaraak made Caldcleugh available, the transportation coordinators made sure people got rides. People worked together to find solutions. Because members of both communities believed they could do it, I came to believe, too.
At Sunday noon, September 25, there was a small trickle of people that came into the Caldcleugh auditorium. Soon they became a flood. Moms carried in potluck food, cars and vans unloaded visitors from Charlotte and Raleigh, the sound system kicked in and the first United Dashain Festival was underway. To a stranger's eyes it was a united performance by a single people. But I knew it was more than that. There was an immigrant leader welcoming refugees. There was a comedian making everyone laugh. There was a committee member crossing the room to greet American guests. As the day wound down groups from both sides stayed on to tidy up. People rose to the spirit of Dashain, coming together, solving problems and giving generously.
Later on Soccer Day, I witnessed the same cordiality, the same desire of both communities to work hard on getting together and getting along. Congratulations to both Nepalese and Bhutanese who worked so hard to bring everyone together and show that real community transformation is possible.
Andrew Young
Technical Advisor and FaithAction Board Member
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ACHIEVEMENTS
• First time joint celebration of Dashain, the most important holiday shared by both Nepalese and Bhutanese communities.
• First time joint competition among young men of both communities is peaceful and well played.
• First time exploration of conflict within the Bhutanese community about relations with the Nepalese community, with the majority of the community opting to support and attend United Dashain.
• Successful Soccer Day leads Bhutanese community members to initiate meetings with other refugee and immigrant representatives, cooperate with the Council of Cultures, and the announcement of the formation of an international soccer league at FaithAction's Multicultural Thanksgiving Day dinner.
• New activity and interest by Bhutanese members to work with the Triad Nepalese Community Center and discussions about organizing their own Bhutanese association, ESOL classes, and other self-help activities.
• Strong interest by Bhutanese community members to become involved in the Council of Cultures.
• First time exploration of conflict within the Nepalese community about relations with the Bhutanese refugee community, with hard, difficult discussions that eventually lead to overwhelming board support for United Dashain and participation by TNCC members. This new, open attitude leads to a boost in TNCC lifetime memberships.
COVERAGE
Locally Grown
FaithAction E-News
RELATED
News-Record
SUNDAY PROGRAM
PDF
• First time joint celebration of Dashain, the most important holiday shared by both Nepalese and Bhutanese communities.
• First time joint competition among young men of both communities is peaceful and well played.
• First time exploration of conflict within the Bhutanese community about relations with the Nepalese community, with the majority of the community opting to support and attend United Dashain.
• Successful Soccer Day leads Bhutanese community members to initiate meetings with other refugee and immigrant representatives, cooperate with the Council of Cultures, and the announcement of the formation of an international soccer league at FaithAction's Multicultural Thanksgiving Day dinner.
• New activity and interest by Bhutanese members to work with the Triad Nepalese Community Center and discussions about organizing their own Bhutanese association, ESOL classes, and other self-help activities.
• Strong interest by Bhutanese community members to become involved in the Council of Cultures.
• First time exploration of conflict within the Nepalese community about relations with the Bhutanese refugee community, with hard, difficult discussions that eventually lead to overwhelming board support for United Dashain and participation by TNCC members. This new, open attitude leads to a boost in TNCC lifetime memberships.
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COVERAGE
Locally Grown
FaithAction E-News
News-Record
SUNDAY PROGRAM
