Desi Union society bring students together for on campus Eid celebration

Students from the Desi Union have brought cultures together at an on-campus event to celebrate the Muslim celebration Eid.

On April 3, Desi Union committee members and volunteers hosted the Eid al Fitr Gathering which involved a celebration of food, culture and togetherness.

The event took place a few days after the world celebrated Eid, but allowed students to celebrate with friends while their families celebrated in their home countries.

“We wanted to make sure that this Eid celebration was a more relaxed setting and allowed people to mix with one another. We didn’t want to necessarily focus on the religious aspect too much, but of course respecting religion and the boundaries that come with it.” Desi Union President Kranti Rai explained.

Despite being a religious celebration for the Muslim community, Desi Union wanted to ensure that the event was open to anyone who was interested in being part of the celebration. Desi Union member Zain Ul Abidin Qureshi said: “Last year was the first time we ever hosted an Eid celebration so we wanted to build on that for this year. We learned a lot from it, but one of the main things for us was that we wanted to ensure that Muslims from every country could be included as well.”

He added: “As we know, the Muslim faith can be found all over the world and so we wanted to celebrate that. For this year’s event, we wanted to highlight the diversity and we wanted to share a presentation about the different cultures; the similarities and the differences. I think a lot of people really learned something from it and had fun.”

The celebration, which took place in the GCU Students’ Association building, involved a schedule of activities; including a quiz, cultural showcase and a Q&A session to allow guests to learn about each other’s cultures.

Kranti explained: “We started off the event with a quiz which was about culture, geography and information that would hopefully let the guests learn something about another country. After that, we had a cultural showcase which allowed students to come up and talk about their own culture.

For example, we got to hear about Nigeria, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. We also held a Q&A for people to ask questions as well and it opened up discussions around how the cultures differ from one another. After that, we hosted some games and had some plans for activities after but everyone was enjoying getting to mingle and take pictures so we decided to let them do that.”

As well as being an event focused on celebrating diversity, it was also an opportunity for international Muslim students to celebrate Eid away from their home countries.

Zain explained: “Events like these are so important! I’m lucky to have my family here to celebrate with. A lot of students will be here without their families and events like this can make them feel more at home. A lot of students said how much they appreciated it and thanked us for hosting it, which was nice to hear.”

Keep up-to-date with more events from the Desi Union society by checking out their Instagram 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 here