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Last Lines: A collaborative poem written by the English For Life class

20 September 2016 by diwc-admin Leave a Comment

‘Last Lines’ is the title of a collaborative poem written by the English For Life class under the guidance of Lindsay MacGregor, in partnership with the Creative Writing Department of the University of Dundee.

A compilation of the poem is published by Dundee University’s Creative Writing Department to celebrate their 10^th year anniversary.

The theme of the anthology ‘The Voyage Out’ was chosen as Dundee was and still is associated with international travelling. DIWC was asked to contribute as our learners have made long journeys to be in Dundee – journeys home, learning a foreign language and into new areas of hope and fear.

there is no word for first light
it’s more like find yourself

study – play – talk to the other
come back in the same way
arrive at the night in an army town

did I know I’d leave before you knew?

my heart is still on my country road
small fish and smoke
bokharat kapsa cardamom jackfruit
honey cake apple cake
father’s farm of rice and sweet potatoes

what is in your suitcase? it seems so heavy
your name ? your family? your country?
someone’s always choosing for us

leaving the shade of Lakshmi’s green dome, walking
across a field of white birds and blueberries
we forget the hard thing happened
find our balance

*Contributors: Amandine, Amandeep, Balgeis, Lindsay, Madhuri, Magda, Maria, Mashael, Mei and Rekha

Hamish, Peacocks & Scone Palace – a day out with DIWC

20 July 2016 by diwc-admin Leave a Comment

July 2016 saw the DIWC members going for a day trip to Scone Palace. Read on to see what a wonderful day out they all had and take a look at some of the pictures taken on the day.

Welcomed by Hamish the cow and a Peacock!

We gathered at the centre at 9 am and made our way to the Palace. Upon arriving at the Palace we were welcomed by a beautiful peacock and Hamish the cow. This got the children excited from the beginning of the trip.

We walked to the Palace and were given a tour around the grounds. Scone Palace has an exciting history as one of Scotland’s most important stately homes. This was also the world’s famous crowning place of the King of Scots.The Palace has an outstanding collection of antiques, paintings and artefacts from around the world.

We then made our way to the garden for an afternoon picnic lunch. The sun was out, the peacocks flared their feathers, and the children enjoyed themselves.We all brought our packed lunches and spent the afternoon chatting away under the bright Scottish sun.

The afternoon continued with a walk around the garden and exploring the maze. The maze was an exciting place to be as everyone was competing to be the first to find their way out. Some of us watched from the bridge of the maze and gave directions to those who can’t find their way out. We strongly believe in the saying “leave no man behind”. 🙂

The children continued playing in the park while some of us went for a long walk into the woods. The walk was guided by Priya who is a yoga instructor. She taught us breathing and meditation techniques and educated us on the importance of being close to nature.

We all had a wonderful time together. Many of us made new friends while some others got the opportunity to enjoy the summer fun with a group of lovely ladies. The children also enjoyed the day out in the Palace.

Have a peek at the video below and watch how we spent the day at Scone Palace:

Scone Palace2 from DIWC on Vimeo.

Celebrating Eid with a party at the DIWC

13 July 2016 by diwc-admin Leave a Comment

Eid festival is celebrated by Muslims around the world to mark the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan.

This year an Eid party was celebrated in the Boomerang Community Centre. The evening was celebrated with music, dance, and authentic middle eastern food, with our very own in-house DJ Dana entertaining the crowd with her mixing skills.

Watch the video below to see how we celebrated Eid.

Eid Party 2016 from Parv K. Jessy on Vimeo.

Dundee Contemporary Arts celebrating Refugee Festival Scotland with a documentary film ‘Fire at Sea’

1 June 2016 by diwc-admin Leave a Comment

Celebrating Refugee Festival Scotland: A documentary film ‘Fire at Sea’ showing at Dundee Contemporary Arts

Fire at Sea is a new documentary by Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi about life on Lampedusa, the small Mediterranean island which has become the epicentre of life and death for thousands of people desperate for a new future in Europe.

Windswept and sparsely populated, Lampedusa has around 6,000 permanent inhabitants. A tight-knit community, families have lived on the island for generations. But in the past 20 years, 400,000 migrants have passed through this community and more than 15,000 died on its coastline.

Ordinary life continues on the island and Rosi’s tour guide is the precocious Samuele, a nine-year-old who still plays with his slingshot and slurps down his spaghetti. He seems untouched by the horror that surrounds his island home. For others, like the kind local doctor, the experiences of death and desperation are impossible to forget.

Rosi, who lived on Lampedusa for a year during the making of the film, juxtaposes these scenes with astonishing footage of the Italian naval rescue operations desperately trying to reach a boat in distress. The harsh reality of conditions on the boats is shown in unflinching detail, as is life in the detention centre, where those who survived the crossing must start again.

Fire at Sea won this year’s Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. The documentary will be screened from 17th June to 23rd June 2016 at Dundee Contemporary Arts. Book your tickets here.

Watch the official trailer teaser below :

International Women’s Day 2016: Focusing on our Global Achievements

18 April 2016 by diwc-admin Leave a Comment

DIWC Celebrates International Women’s Day 2016

“Women’s rights are human rights” – Hilary Clinton 1995

In 2016, International Women’s Day was Tuesday 8^th March. On this day we focus on our global achievements!

These include the following:

Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) an international treaty adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly. Today, it is a bill of rights for women that is adopted by 181 countries.
Microcredit for promoting self-employment in Bangladesh. Was created by the Grameen Bank (a Nobel Peace Prize-winning microfinance organization and community development bank) 1997.
UN millennium development Goals – goal no. 3 promote gender equality and empower women.

Globally, the theme for IWD 2016 is “Planet 50-50 by 2030. Step it up for Gender Equality”

The idea of this theme is to consider how to accelerate the 2030 Agenda building momentum for the effective implementation of the new Sustainable Development Goals especially goal number 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; and number 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

Locally… we celebrate the global achievements of women and begin our continuous #pledgeforparity

Dundee’s Women’s Festival

http://www.dundeewomensfestival.org.uk/

4 main ideas promoted by International Women’s day with Dundee and DIWC

Being more informed about money, government policy and health issues enable us to act for ourselves and for others.

Knowing about women of the past who have achieved great things empowers us to follow in their footsteps.

Being involved in sporting activities and encouraging other women to join in will bring both health and self-esteem.

Being confident in speaking up – just one woman with the courage to speak out will encourage another to join her, whether it’s in Parliament or in the local Mother & Toddler Group. Then a couple more will have a go, then ten more…

Going back to point 2; Dundee’s theme of the year is Women making a difference…

Dundee Women in Science Festival

Celebrating and supporting women in science, technology, engineering and maths: the world’s only festival doing this!

Promoting careers in science

Supports professional women to develop their careers

Showcases talented and exciting research taking place across Scotland

WHERE OUR MINDS ARE NOW group exhibition

Exhibition of artists, selected via open call and curated by several members of the Tin Roof Arts Collective committee.
The artists work to be exhibited is in a range of mediums and responds to the theme of Women and Gender Parity.
The opening of the exhibition is on Friday 4th March 2016 at 7pm and will be raising money for local women’s charity Women’s Aid Dundee.

Dundee Women’s Festival is created in partnership with over 25 local women empowering organisations, including DIWC.

DIWC’s personal tribute

At DIWC there was focus on cultural education, skills and mixing women from different cultures.

An Indian banquet was on the menu for an empowering international womens day at DIWC. We made Sheesh Kebabs and taught women how to make them and held Spice classes, where we taught women the different use of spices.

This tribute is recognised and reflects the progress in women’s rights to education and cultural freedom.

Author: Caroline Brysting