For the last few years Canberra has held their Multi cultural festival during the first 2 weeks of February. We have lots of activities where all the different ethnic communities can get out and give us all a taste of their cultures. Last night was music and food and through the week there have been theatre, dance , music and many interesting things to go and see.

On the Sunday in the middle of the festival (today) the community day , “Contact Canberra”, is held. This is the one opportunity each year that small community groups can get out their stuff to let the rest of the community know what they do and what they offer, held in the centre of town in city walk, where there is lots of walk by traffic, all at very little cost. There are still lots of multi- cultural activities happening which draw people into the city.

Well, today was this years event. So I packed up our gear, all the posters and brochures and went in to claim our marquee. I work for (manage) an organisation that provides support and resources for small non-profit self – help/ support groups/organisations. Mostly health and disability related.

The pictures here are from last years event, I left the camera behind, although I did pack 4 bottles of water (2 frozen) to get me through the day. Yep, today was HOT! 39C! I perspired a lot!

I also have sore muscles from dragging my kit about and setting it up, a big bruise on my foot where the table fell on it when I was positioning it and although I had sunscreen and stayed in the shade, a touch of sun.

The crowds were a bit smaller due to the heat and I packed up by 3.00pm rather than sit it out until 5. We did get quite a few visitors to our stall and I managed to get enough volunteers from our member organisations to give me a couple of breathers in the shelter of the airconditioned Mall that we were just outside of. The guys from the Prostate Cancer support Group were such troopers handing out brochures to passing men…though more often to the men’s wives!

Give aways are always good…we had a bunch of water bottles and things encouraging people to become organ donors and some directories we produce that list all the local support groups. Usually at this event I visit some of the other stalls and do a bit of networking, but today was just too hot, and now it is all over until next year.