Next week is Harmony Week, a time to celebrate Australia’s cultural diversity, and encourage inclusiveness and respect, fostering a sense of belonging for everyone.
At Monash Health, we respect and include everyone regardless of culture or the language they speak.
We’re proud to boast a diverse range of cultures, not only among our employees, but also the wider community we serve. Across our catchment areas, approximately 20,000 residents are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, over a third were born overseas, and we have the largest refugee and migrant community in Victoria.
A spotlight on cultures at Monash Health
Today we shine a spotlight on Karina Yu, Digital Advisor at Monash Health, who is of Chinese Singaporean / Hong Kong background.
Karina’s culture has a strong focus on multiculturalism, and celebrates and observes various cultural and religious holidays, with this sentiment bound by their own Racial Harmony Day.
“The Chinese culture is overall very family-oriented, and very much about filial piety.”
Chinese New Year is a big celebration, and the night before is Karina’s favourite part of the Chinese New Year festivities. A customary “lo hei” – a raw fish salad – is prepared, with each ingredient representing something positive, such as prosperity, wealth, happiness and good wishes.
“We toss the salad together – the higher the better – while saying or giving one another good wishes for the new year.”
Food is very much a feature in Karina’s cultural celebrations, but her favourite dish is their Singapore Chilli Crab.
“It’s usually a mud crab, cooked in sweet and savoury chilli and a tomato-ey sauce with egg in it. We have a side of buns we call ‘mantou’ either steamed or fried that we dip in the chilli crab sauce and eat.”
Sounds delicious!
If you would like to share stories, recipes, celebrations (anything really!) about your culture, please get in touch with us at communication@monashhealth.org. We would love to have a chat with you and share information about your culture with the Monash Health community as we celebrate Harmony Week.
More information about Harmony Week can be found on the Harmony Week website.
Approved by Karen Lowe