Cultural Diversity Day Celebration
Every year the Aga Khan Nursery School, Mombasa (AKNSM) celebrates World Cultural Diversity Day with children, teachers and staff coming to school in their national dress, and bringing artefacts and food to share.
Diversity is expressed through intelligence, language, race, values, religion and gender all of which form our cultures, our ethics, our thinking, and our ways of being in the world. But it is the recognition of our common humanity that is the first step in celebrating diversity.
At AKNSM, diversity is seen as vital to an interdisciplinary approach to education. “Celebrating our differences as well as our common interests help us unite as we share our experiences. We embrace a culture where people are treated with respect and where the particular gifts of every child is distinguished by conscious recognition of ‘Who We Are’ ” explained Elizabeth Adhuno, Deputy Head Teacher.
Elizabeth went on, “This year, due to COVID 19, we could not meet face to face however this did not deter us from celebrating such an important occasion as Diversity Day. We started with each child wearing their cultural dress and talking about their outfits during the zoom sessions. It was very interesting to see the 2 to 6 year olds excited and anxiously waiting for their turn to talk. The pleasure of the parents could not be hidden either, as they took up the responsibility of assisting their children explain their various traditions.
The activity of teaching each other how to greet in their language was awesome. A lot of giggles and smiles resulted as children got surprised when they realized that they spoke the same language as others in the class. After a mini at-home fashion show, our Librarian told the children stories about different traditions from around the world. Then the children sent their teachers videos, photos and creative writing about the types of food they eat, the artefacts they use and some even sang and danced their traditional songs.”
Lilian Motanya, Kabilia Deborah, Ceri Chamberlain, Uzma Shahzadi