Living in Harmony

Adelaide students ‘Living in Harmony’

Throughout 2008 ARA has been running the ‘Living in Harmony’ project, an initiative designed to foster friendship and understanding between primary school students from refugee backgrounds and those from schools with less ethnic diversity.

Cowandilla, Clarendon, St John Bosco and St Andrew’s schools are participating in several activities, including an exchange day between the schools and a dialogue day, where students will share their experiences and values. On April 3rd a Harmony Day celebration/project launch was held at Cowandilla Primary School, with both Lieutenant-Governor Hieu Van Le and the Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs Carmel Zollo speaking to the children before a fantastic performance by Indigenous artist Matthew Johnson. After enjoying some Afghan jalabi and Sudanese donuts, the students got to know each other through games and designing a poster based on harmony.

The participants have very much embraced the project, for example independently swapping email addresses on Harmony Day, a sign that meaningful relationships have already been formed. A DVD of the project is being produced to be released with a teaching manual at the end of the year, with the hope that other schools may choose to embrace the initiative in the future. The project is proudly supported by the Australian Government’s Living in Harmony programme.  For more information, visit www.harmony.gov.au

 Living in Harmony - Media Release 12.5.08