Unique Sixteen-Nation Cultural festival at NDC camp

SIXTEEN nations yesterday celebrated their cultural heritage during the Cultural Day at the National Defence College in Dar es Salaam.

The Minister for Culture, Arts, and Sports, Mohammed Mchengerwa, graced the colourful cultural diversity event witnessed by senior and junior army officers and delegates from different embassies in the country.

During the event, the envoys from 16 nations showcased their cultural products in terms of  language, art, foods, cultural garments and traditional dances.

The envoys who exhibited their cultural products were from Africa, Asia and the Far East.

Most of the event’s participants were delegates pursuing the 11th Course at the college.

There were 47 envoys, 27 of them from Tanzania while 20 were from other nations.

Other African envoys came from Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Egypt, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

The envoy from outside Africa represented  India, China and Bangladesh.

Following the colourful exhibition displayed at the National Defence College square, Ambassador, Lieutenant General (rtd) Yacub Mohammed, who once served the college as commandant, lauded the college for having such an event that cherishes cultural values, insisting it will increase interaction among the countries as every nation has the opportunity to see, share and learn from other cultures.

“I am happy to be in National Defence College’s Culture Day. The event is big and colourful. I congratulate the college and the delegates for their brilliant presentation of their cultural products.

Its importance is very great, as different countries get a chance to show their culture and get an opportunity to learn what other nations are doing, this helps to build a better relationship with other nations.”

The Commandant of the National Defence College, Major General Ibrahim Mhona told the press that the cultural day event takes place yearly, where delegates pursuing the course showcase their cultural diversity in pavilions specially prepared for the event.

“It is an essential event in the National Defence College’s calendar, for we aim to bring our cultural diversities and celebrate them together.

Through this event, delegates from different nations showcase their cultural values and products, the history and heritage of their people; with such an event, we get to know other communities’ values, and they get to know ours.

For instance, we have a food called ‘ugali’ in Nigeria; they call it ‘fufu’, but they have the same meaning; the only difference is the expression. Through this cultural event, we get to know all these similarities and differences.

‘Daily News’ visited some of the pavilions at the college square and was fascinated with various cultural exhibitions from India, Rwanda, Zambia, Burundi, Egypt and Tanzania.

They had different traditional foods, weapons, garments, and drinks.

Apart from the cultural material displayed, some exhibitors sang and danced. Among them were envoys from the Rwanda traditional dancing group; Sorojato Roy, a teacher from the Indian cultural centre who played traditional music and sang to the visitors who visited the Indian pavilion.