Last week, the Sheffield Hallam Students' Union Vietnamese society hosted a culture day at the Students' Union. Over 200 people, students, staff and family members from a range of different backgrounds, came out in their numbers to witness the beautiful display of the Vietnamese culture.
Here is what Dolly, one of the society's committee members had to say about the event:
"As representatives of the Vietnamese society in Sheffield, we strive to share our unique and beautiful culture to the multicultural community. In order to do so, we have organised many events throughout the year to bring both students and staff together from both Vietsoc and other societies together. This is because we believe that these events will help to prevent cultural barriers, not only within the Vietnamese community but also our international fellows here in Sheffield.
On the 15th March, we hosted our biggest event of the year: Vietnamese Culture Day (VCD), with the aim to create a cultural and educational platform for all people through traditional and modern performing arts, food, and games. In order to present a rich experience, we carefully planned a variety of themes from historical to modern Vietnamese settings. Our entertainment program consisted of a range of singing, dancing, catwalk show, and game shows. We acknowledged that there would be language barriers as most of the audience may not understand the lyrics or context in each performance. Therefore to overcome this, for every performance, we thoughtfully prepared an introduction and used video clips as visual aids; this enabled everyone to get a feel of the vibe and the soul of our culture.
We welcomed everyone with 45 minutes of “Welcome drinks” with innovative Vietnamese tea and coffee created by our drinks-enthusiasts before the show. This got people to get into the zone, network, and make friends with other students/staff. We also served up a range of authentic Vietnamese street food for all attendees to give them the full Vietnamese experience.
Through blood, sweat and tears, we are proud to say that Vietnamese Culture Day 2018 is our most successful event yet. We hope to make our society better known, our culture to spread out through upcoming events, and most of all, break cultural barriers and bring all societies and communities together.
We would like to thank the Students' Union and University for all their support".