Shared celebration and awareness
To celebrate Cultural Diversity Week, we spoke to Keshala De Silva, a member of RANZCOG’s Consumer Network Working Group.
Which country or countries represent your cultural background? What is your connection to those countries?
I refer to myself as Sri Lankan and Australian: one is my mother country where I was born and the other one is where I grew up. Both have shaped my identity and who I am.
How does your culture influence your regular day-to-day life?
Sri Lankans are community-focused, and we grew up with adopted aunts and uncles from different cultures and religions, supporting each other through life. This is a big part of my drive and focus to improve the communities that I am part of.
What is it you value most about your culture? And why is cultural diversity important to you?
The bringing together of people and empowering of community, is a value that I have grown to realise is important to me.
Having experienced the benefits of cultural diversity, I hope that through the bringing together of people from diverse backgrounds, we can all grow to appreciate and be aware of the many ways of being.”
This, I believe, is where cultural diversity really comes into play, through a shared celebration and awareness that diversity brings and provides, we can build culturally responsive environments.