| The Bournemouth and Poole Mela
Unity in Vision Supports Saaz Aur Awaaz
 The
word ‘Mela’ means a gathering or a ‘Fair’. It is sometimes religious
but often a social gathering with large number of participants and a
variety of activities suited for all ages and interests. Some Melas go
on for days. Most Asian countries have a Mela in some shape or form
which allows a collection of people with social and cultural interests
to come together and share their experiences in a warm, supportive and
non- threatening environment.
The Mela planned in Bournemouth is to allow the Asian and the Oriental cultures to showcase their
cultural, artistic, gastronomic and literary heritage for each other
and for the population as a whole. The Mela would endeavour to allow
the opportunity for a fusion of all cultures. Through the activities it
is expected that visitors would get a glimpse of the people of Asia,
their values and beliefs and more importantly their commitment to UK
and its prosperity as a successful multicultural nation. Occasions like
Mela offer ideal opportunities for people from different cultures to be
fully integrated with the mainstream culture without losing their own
rich cultural heritage and at the same time adding value the indigenous
culture.
The
Mela in that sense would be a multicultural forum. There will be work
shops, activities, shows, seminars, discussions, entertainment and of
course, a range of different cuisines. The activities/ work shops would
include:
- Music – various bands such as Indi / Rock / Indian Pop etc.
- Theatre – portraying safety awareness through performance.
- Dance – Bhangra / Indian folk / African / Spanish / Scottish.
- Multicultural show – Unity in Vision traditional costume parade.
- Food festival – stalls selling Indian, Chinese, Thai, English foods.
- Activities for children – bouncy castle, slides, story telling
- Henna and the oriental art.
- Sari and turban tying.
- Martial arts – such as Gatka and Kung Fu.
- Cookery demonstrations – Indian cookery.
The Saaz Aur Awaaz (SAA) is a women’s organisation. It is, therefore,
keen that the Melas would also focus on activities for Asian women
whose artistic and cultural talents do not often get the opportunity to
be exhibited The SAA has a strong belief in equal opportunities. The
planning, activities and accessibility to the Mela will reflect the
SAA’s commitment to equal opportunities. We hope that the multicultural
nature of the Mela will provide an excellent opportunity for people of
all communities in the Bournemouth area and beyond, to come together in
the spirit of communal harmony. Every group of people has its own
cultural identity, traditions and history and we are excited at being
able to bring together, groups of people from varied backgrounds both
to share their own cultural heritage and to learn about others'.
 During
the day, we plan to have several artistes, performers -some local, some
from further fields – to create a unique opportunity to children and
adults to engage and to perform through their chosen
medium, as means of both entertainment and education. We believe, there
is out there considerable talent in the form of singers,
musicians, dancers, story tellers, jugglers, henna artists, folk
artists, craftsmen and women . We hope to provide opportunity for them to perform for an inclusive, participatory and appreciative audience.
So
far we have been able to solicit the support of the Indian,
the Chinese, the Iranian the Thai the Bangladeshi, the Jewish, the
Afro-Caribbean, the Polish, the Spanish, Saudi Arabian, the Scottish,
the  Irish
and the Pakistani communities. We continue to approach several others
so that we can make this a truly outstanding multi-cultural event.
All
in all, we hope that the Mela will become an enjoyable, educative and
lively occasion which will be unique but with the potential of becoming
a regular annual event in the Southwest.
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