GCU student helps bring people together through Annual Burns Supper & Rumi event
A GCU student has helped host the annual Robert Burns Supper and Rumi event – an event which celebrates the work of the famous Scottish and Afghan poets whilst bringing the two cultures together.
Second year Construction Management student Nagineh Azar , who works for the local group Glasgow Afghan United, helped co-chair the annual event which is aimed at celebrating the union and culture between Scotland and Afghanistan. Unlike previous years, the event was held virtually and guests were invited to attend via the platform Zoom.
The Annual Burns Supper & Rumi event invited guests to celebrate the work of Scottish poet Robert Burns and Mawlana Jalal-al-din Rumi (also known as Rumi) – a renown poet from Afghanistan. The event featured a prestigious list of speakers, such as Scottish Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Dr Abdullah Abdullah; the chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation.
Nagineh was part of a large team that helped organise the event. She said: “All roles were shared throughout the planning of the event. Some of these included; creating and sending invites, making the event brochure, organising the program of the day, contacting performers, preparing, and testing out the zoom software, and also making the script for both myself and the co-chair.
On the day I spent half of my time speaking and introducing speakers. The other half involved admitting people into the event, preparing the recorded performances or speeches to then be shared on Zoom and handling any technical difficulties with the live stream on Facebook.”
Nagineh believes that events like this hold great importance. She said: “It is quite important to remember the past of the countries - not only its tragedies but also its successes. Both poets are known all over the world with their work being praised and followed.
Not only is the event to celebrate the poets but to also bring people together from all over the world for a common reason.”
She added: “I think the event went extremely well. It is the second time we have used the Zoom platform for such a big event, and online events have different things you need to worry about compared to a normal event.
Everyone enjoyed it thoroughly! Our guest list was very extensive and it was great to see everyone still celebration whilst in lockdown. It really helped bring the spirits up.”
You can keep up to date with Glasgow Afghan United on their Twitter page
By Rachael McAlonan
Got a SCEBE or GSBS story? Email me at Rachael.McAlonan@gcu.ac.uk or connect with me on social media