I volunteer at an organisation called the Darebin Intercultural Centre where we hold programs that allow different culture to educate others on what inspires people about their cultures. We believe that this is the best way of integrating people in our multicultural municipality, there are over 150 different nationalities in Darebin.

What does culture mean, here is the Oxford dictionaries definition :definition of culture – the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively:

This gives me a wide access to what I could choose as the 15 quotes for today’s interaction, I hope I do  it justice, here we go:

1. In my country Australia when they arrived in 1788 the British declared Terra Nullus – vacant land and went on a genocidal attack on the native population who had resided here 60,000 years. Luckily for us they failed and we have a growing culture to look back on and learn from the first Australians.

2. The first thing conquerors do when they take over another is attempt to destroy their languages, music and knowledge of their past. In Tibet speaking their native tongue is banned by the Chinese.

3. Wade Davis CM is a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author, and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures, especially in North and South America and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants.

4. I am a language tutor for 4 people and find I am learning as much as I am supposedly teaching. I have taught 2 doctors. a Council member of a city three times as large as the one I live in and a structural engineer who was responsible for constructing the largest projects in his country until he was blacklisted by the Taliban.

5. I have visited several countries in my 60 years and one of my unique experiences was visiting a housing museum in Tbilisi, Georgia. The building went back 1,300 years and were a fascinating way to learn about the culture of  the region.

6. I just had to include this one, as an editing professional I don’t know if the spelling mistake is a deliberate part of the message they are trying to expound or not.

7. And in my very core is one of the main cultural paths, music of many nations. Here is one of my favourite tracks: Culture – Wings of a Dove.

8. What has the world become where the basics of our life have become unaffordable for some, it is hurting the heart of our planet.

9. I believe mainstream’s media portrait of Iran to be a classic example of creating what is meant to be the culture of a country. In my work I have meant a lot of Iranian asylum seekers and become friends with an Iranian musician Studying here. Gelerah’s music is magnificent: Magnificent Tones.

10. Raymond Douglas Bradbury was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction author. Widely known for his dystopia novel Fahrenheit 451 as well as his science fiction and horror story collections The Martian Chronicles The Illustrated Man, and There Will Come Soft Rains. Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th- and 21st-century American genre writers. Hitler tried to destroy German Intellectualism by doing this prior to WW2.

11. When Governments forget that cultures are not to dominate but strengthen the hearts and souls of their citizens quotes like this appear, unfortunately they are occurring at a growing rate.

12. Credited with creating modern Finnish culture Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer, as well as a sculptor and painter. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware.

13. Gaining insight into 4 different cultures at the same time can be quite invigorating, I spend some hours investigating what they tell me about each of their unique upbringing, one spent 25 years in a refugee camp, being born there.

14. Pretty unique way to teach multiculturalism to your citizens, build different countries into your infrastructure, wonder what effect it will have on the inhabitants of each suburb.

15. Sound familiar with what is happening in the current era, Herman Hesse wrote this back in the 1940’s prior to the war to end ll wars, they got that wrong too . He was a German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game, each of which explores an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

I believe the best of each culture will overcome the evil that is being used at the moment to corrupt the world. That is why I have created a Facebook public group: Interculturalism to have a space where people of all cultures can sing the praises and what they love about their life.

Namaste until Thursday, my dear friends.