Launch of ACAA New Office

The ACAA had an exciting event to launch the new fully equipped office in New Cross Gate London Borough of Lewisham. The event started at about 12pm and ended at 3pm. It was a very busy day and there were numerous distinguished guests.
 
The Deputy Mayor of the London Borough of Lewisham, Mr. Alan Smith came along and officially made the new office open for our organisation and its services.

ACAA volunteer Mr. Christian started with a speech introducing all the members of staff as well as the Director of the ACAA Dr Nasimi. Then the Director welcomed everyone to the celebration, expressed how delighted he was that everyone could make it. “We are glad that ACAA as a community organisation enabled its members to find their place in the British Society”, Dr. Nasimi told the audience.

He emphasised on the benefits of having a good working environment. Ultimately, he expressed how pleased we all are of our new office before welcoming Mr. Alan Smith the Deputy Mayor of Lewisham to the celebration and asked him to declare the new office for business.

Mr. Alan Smith emphasised the hard work of Dr Nasimi and the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association in Lewisham helping new arrivals in education, training and cultural events.

We believe that the attendance for our celebration could be estimated at approximately 60 people.

During the day there was a lot of food and drinks for all our attendees. There was a lot of laughter and it was a big success.

From all the staff here at the Afghanistan & Central Asian Association we would like to give a big thank to all our guests who turned up and met our staff and volunteers.

Eid Celebration in Lewisham (18th November 2010)

The Afghanistan and Central Asian Association held a joyous Eid Celebration at the Albany in Deptford on the 18th of November 2010 from 4pm – 7:30pm. The event was well attended by more than 100 people from, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran and local residents. Some members of the local communities were also in attendance. The event started with a welcoming address by Dr. Nooralhaq Nasimi, who wished everyone a Happy Eid. An introduction to Eid was given by Arzo Naubahar ACAA member of Staff. Professor Mohammad Saied former Kabul University Lecturer speaking in Farsi explained the historical origins of Eid and described its importance to the cultural heritage of Muslim in the world. Professor Saied spoke convincingly of the need for continued freedom to celebrate Eid and for it to be protected from the influence of political and religious leaders seeking to erase it from the present day cultural life of Afghanistan. The event continued with some
of our supplementary school students reading poetry and expressing their feelings on Eid
day. Furthermore, the event was attended by the Metropolitan Police and leader of community groups in Lewisham. During the event Music, food and drinks were provided which was enjoyed by everyone. Everyone had an entertaining and enjoyable evening, where they were able to celebrate Eid with other fellow friends and families in Great Britain. This was a good opportunity for the attendees to come together and share their knowledge, views and opinion and how they should contribute to the society.

ACAA Celebrated Nowruz Sunday March 21st 2010
 
In 2009 Nowruz was officially registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UN’s Inter- governmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage; and in 2010 it was recognized by the UN's General Assembly, which described it as a spring festival of Persian origin and some other nations which has been celebrated for over 3,000 years ACAA celebrated Nowruz at the Power-league Sports ground in Catford. It was a clear day with sunshine and blue skies. The hall was decorated with flowers, paper chains, banners, balloons, and a beautiful haft sin table honouring the rebirth and new life of spring, with burning candles, live goldfish and fresh fruits. Guests arrived to live traditional music. Once settled in, Arzo Naubahar ACAA volunteer welcomed everyone and introduced Dr Nasimi as the first speaker.

Giving his Nowruz speech in Farsi and English, Dr. Nasimi joked that being able to do so for the first time without a script showed his own progress as a beneficiary of ACAA. Dr Nasimi then introduced Joan Ruddock MP, a long-term supporter of the organization. On this occasion, Joan spoke about the richness of culture she had
seen during visits to Afghanistan. She also praised the good work she had seen on visits to ACAA's supplementary school, saying she was especially glad to see a new confidence amongst the women she had discussed issues with on her most recent visit earlier this month.

In finishing her speech, Ms Ruddock emphasized the need for members of the community to learn English to secure their economic futures. She also encouraged the community to participate in UK democracy, in particular by using their right to vote in the coming national election. The Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock was next to speak. Sir Steve, also a long time supporter of the organization, described ACAA as an example of successful Diaspora community “self-help” and as the model of everything a community organization should be.
Following the Mayor, Professor Mohammad Saied former Kabul University Lecturer speaking in Farsi, explained the historical origins of Nowruz and described its importance to the cultural heritage of Afghanistan and Central Asia. Professor Saied spoke forcefully of the need for continued freedom to celebrate Nowruz and for it to be protected from the influence of political and religious leaders seeking to erase it from the present day cultural life of Afghanistan. Members of the community and children from the Supplementary School then read poems looking forward to the New Year.

The 200 guests enjoyed a traditional Uzbekistani meal of rice and lamb before the event closed with music and dancing. Finally, we gave our thanks to everyone who attended and for making the celebration so enjoyable and peaceful. We would also like to thank PC Sam Costello, Michelle Narciso, Mr Grant Kubler, Miss Irena, and Mrs. Fariba for their beautiful decoration of the haft sin table and the hall. Finally, extra special thanks to Joan Ruddock and Sir Steve Bullock for giving us their time on a Sunday. We also gave our gratitude to all the volunteers who work so hard teaching at the ESOL, Citizenship and our supplementary school and helping us in our office.

2009 Eid Celebration at the Albany

On the Eid is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan and is celebrated with festivity and joy. On the 26th of September, the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association celebrated the event with participants from all different backgrounds such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka, Ghana contributing and enjoying the event.
Around 85 people enjoyed the multicultural food, Live Music and other entertainment's such as competitions and performances by our Supplementary school students.

Many of the attendees described the event as:

‘I enjoyed the Eid event as I met other people from the same culture and nationality which made me feel more at home. I particularly enjoyed the young peoples performances’
Rahima Azimi

‘ We have not had an eid event in the New Cross area for a long time, and this event had great multicultural food with live music. I had met many new people and helped me to go out and socialise’
Abdul Omar

The Eid event was so enjoyable, i really liked it, we had a lot of fun, and children were dancing, so that was very good. The best part was when the singer sang my best song. A lot of people attended the Eid event, even the policemen came, they had really enjoyed, and the policemen had to give a speech.
Darius Suleiman,

2009 New Year Party ( NowRuz)

The Afghanistan and Central Asian Association held a New Year Celebration on the 21st of March 2008. Nearly 180 people celebrated the New Year of Nowruz at Goldsmiths. Food, drinks, Music and a cultural program on Nowruz in different countries of Asia such as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kurdish formed the centrepiece of the program.

Our Supplementary Classes students read out poetry in different languages and described the New Year tradition in different countries of Asia.

We had Joan Ruddock MP attending addressing the event and wishing our community a Happy New Year.

2008 Eid Party at Goldsmiths

Dr Nooralhaq Nasimi had given a speech to the Afghans and Central Asians in the local community and wished a happy EID.

On 20th December 2008, the ACAA hosted an Eid celebration at Goldsmith’s College; an evening of music, presentations and cultural events including poetry readings by our Supplementary School Students in celebration of the Eid festival. Music was played on traditional Rubab and Tamboor of Afghanistan by Professor John Bailey( Head of Afghanistan Music Unit) accompanied by Veronica Doubleday singing folk songs in Dari.

The evening was introduced by Roger Panton of Objective Internet and Nadir Zirak performed classical Afghan music.

The event was attended by family groups and around 200 people enjoyed splendid food and entertainment.

John and Veronica gave a superb performance of traditional songs and instruments from Afghanistan.