The St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School in Port Moresby on Wednesday celebrated its first bi-annual culture show with a colorful array of different cultural dances and dishes showcasing their pride and identity.
The atmosphere was filled with a sense of belonging and pride as students gathered into their provincial cultural groups full of energy.
There were groups from various provinces like Central, West Papua, Gulf, the Highlands, NGI and more and also on display were different cultural dishes from the respective provinces.
Students described the theme of the show – My Culture, My Identity, My Pride, saying that cultural differences should not separate people from each other but rather strengthen its diversity to benefit everyone.
They said to understand the culture, one must study the dance and to understand the dance, we must study the people.
The show attracted well over 2000 people from all over including parents, guardians, students from neighboring schools and the general public.
The show was organized by the Catholic school in consultation with the National Cultural Commission.
NCC Executive Director, Steven Enomb Kilanda opened the cultural event and presented a K10,000 cheque to support the show. NCC had supported the school with banners and other promotional material during the preparatory stage of the event.
The support provided by NCC to St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School comes under the Commission’s cultural education program in which NCC believes is the most effective way to promote, preserve and transmit PNG’s cultural heritage when performed live by the younger generation.
Mr Kilanda presented a certificate of recognition and announced that the St. Charles Lwanga Secondary School bi-annual Cultural Show has been formally recognized by NCC thus confirming it as an official cultural show.
He stressed the importance and the economic significance of culture and urged the students to continue to take pride and ownership of their cultural heritage
“After oil and gas and any other extractive resource is depleted, culture and arts will be our fall back. Papua New Guinea has been blessed with about a thousand cultures compared to many other nations in the world that only have one or two. That means we own one third of the world’s culture which makes us unique and incomparable.”