Harmony Day

When I'm sitting through another corporate Harmony Week speech, I think back to the schoolyard — where celebrating multiculturalism was simply something we ...

Multiculturalism was part of our daily life and it was evident in the people we had around us. Sometimes I think going to this school was a burden, because I assumed the rest of Australia would be like this. My mum comes in with tom yum fried noodles for lunch. And I'm often left wondering if we're doing anything past this to ensure multicultural people are able to live happy, thriving lives. At work, there are times when I have to put on my "white voice". It was difficult to reconcile this with my experience post-school. Harmony Week acts as a Band-Aid for these issues. We celebrate Harmony Day in school. It's one of my first jobs. A few of us bring some morning tea. My Romanian friend Abi takes one of my curry puffs. I grab a Vietnamese spring roll from my friend Tash's lunch box.