Join our party on Friday to see how diverse Oxford is

Diversity is a fundamental part of any community.

I am part of a National Citizen Service (NCS) Oxfordshire team that has nationalities from Nigeria, Albania, Philippines, Egypt, Bangladesh and UK, and we are proud of our cultures.

As different as we may be individually, we stand together.

Growing up with migrant parents isn’t always the easiest: we realised as we started to get older that even though we were long-time citizens in the UK there was still some hesitation in interacting as a community, especially with other racial groups.

AFiUK (African Families in the UK) is a local Oxfordshire Community Interest Company that helps children whose parents were born in Third World countries, also known as developing countries, by providing them with opportunities and engaging with them so that they reach their highest potential.

The charity not only helps the children but also migrant parents by supporting them to understand the UK parenting system and comply with UK family law.

AFiUK relies on the generous donations of the community that surrounds them: they are a non-profit organization meaning that all the profit they make is directly ploughed back into running more community project. Without any donations this vital organisation would not exist.

To help fund AFiUK we are holding a multicultural festival this Friday.

The party is being held at South Oxford Community Centre, it runs from 1pm 3pm, and is free to get in.

At the event there will be multicultural food such as samosas, halo-halo and more.

Whilst food is being sold there are opportunities to get henna and face paint done by talented members of the team.

Towards the end of the event we will be showcasing a couple of short videos that explain what AFiUK does, and also the work of another Oxford charity, Yellow Submarine.

In the week leading up to the big event we are doing multiple fundraising events such as sporting events co-hosted with CDI and a sponsored row at BuzzGym, as well as raising awareness in the city centre.

To help explain why the work of AFiUK is so important, here are a few of our experiences as children of migrant parents written anonymously.

One member said: "When I first came to the UK almost 11 years ago now, I knew little to no English and found it hard to communicate with anyone, so it was harder to make friends.

"However, with the help of AFiUK I am now able to read, write and speak English.

"Without them I would have not been able to access the opportunities I have been able to access such as the NCS programme for young adults."

Another of our group said: "My family found it hard to integrate into society when they first came to the UK.

"My father found it hard to communicate with people due to language barriers and my mother faced discriminative comments during her time at work.

"She would often be criticised due to Asian stereotypes similar to the job she had, and she found it hard to be accepted in her community.

"I feel as though AFiUK makes a difference in the community because they’re helping families of different cultures to have opportunities at achieving a better future whilst creating events to diversify our community.”

The National Citizen Service Oxfordshire is a programme which provides opportunities to teenagers and young adults and provide them with new experiences.

It aims to boost confidence and encourage members to try out new skills.

It benefits them as they can put it on their UCAS statement when applying for university or their CV, and that is part of why we are all participating in the programme.

This is the first time we have put on this event, and it will form part of phase three of our NCS programme - social action.