Fijians Urged to Promote Multiculturalism
Akbar: As we look across we can see a diverse range of people coming together
There has been a call for Fijians to promote multiculturalism. The call came from the Minister for Health and Medical Services, Rosy Akbar, while officiating during the Vodafone Ba Riverside Carnival on Friday night.
“As we look across we can see a diverse range of people coming together,” said Ms Akbar on Friday. “This is something we all should be proud of and we should be promoting multiculturalism at all times.” Ms Akbar said people had the opportunity to socialise with those from diverse ethnicities as well as learn about their cultural backgrounds.
She said the carnival was a good platform for the different contestants to highlight major issues affecting our societies.
The theme of this year’s carnival is, “Our Rubbish our Responsibility”.
“We all have a responsibility to take care of our environment.” However, she said people tended to become careless at times. “People sometimes throw rubbish from windows of vehicles while travelling,” she said.
Ms Akbar said the rainy season would start soon and that was when mosquito borne-diseases would increase.
Therefore, she urged everyone to take care of the natural environment. Ms Akbar thanked the contestants for using the carnival as a platform to raise awareness on climate change.
She said that disasters such as Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston were warnings that humans were not taking care of the environment.