This project arose from my work with Muslim women whilst employed at the Muslim Women’s Association. It seemed they had little if any knowledge/understanding  of the Aboriginal culture/people/history yet were readily adopting the negative impressions often portrayed in the media. In order to change this, I contacted Karen to visit Taoundi to work to create better understanding & friendships. She too had found that many of her students had negative impressions of Muslims and was glad to be able to incorporate the learning into her Community Services course.

We decided to  make it an annual event which came to include a visit by the Muslim girls to Taoundi & Lartelare, followed by  the Taoundi girls coming to 3 different community centres to meet Muslims from the various cultures. Traditional food, language, art/craft and dance were among the things we explored & enjoyed together. It was beautiful watching the barriers be broken down. We found that many could relate to each other on a number of levels including loss of land, language, culture, etc.

Last year, along with the African women, we had a party at the end which was open to women of all cultures. It was incredibly uplifting to see how well everyone got along – and how the focus was on similarities rather than differences.