CULTURES and foods from around the world came together to promote diversity in Newcastle on Saturday.
From Afghanistan to Tibet, Ukraine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Music, dance and taste were shared in Foreshore Park as part of the Unity in Diversity festival.
"The vibe is just beautiful. It is a real coming together of all the different cultures and a show of religious freedom," event organiser Jo McGregor said.
The festival started in 2015 as a response to Reclaim Australia rallies being held across Australia, including in Newcastle.
"A group of use came together and thought about what we could do to support the city and make it more welcoming," Ms McGregor said.
A number of organisations including Zara's House, City of Newcastle and the University of Newcastle are involved in the festival, which runs each year during Refugee Week.
"Every year it gets bigger and every year I am excited about seeing people I have never seen before who are often new arrivals to Newcastle," she said.
"If you walk around you will a see a lot of people smiling and people coming up to say this is fantastic, why can't we do this every week?
"Many of the refugees here in Newcastle have experienced war and so to be able to welcome them here in a peaceful, inviting town is really important."
Fardin is a member of the Afghan Association of Hunter and has lived in Newcastle for almost nine years. He said there are now more than 100 Afghan families part of the association, which has driven a growth in their culture.
"We have Afghan restaurants and they have never been in Newcastle and our group is invitied to so many events now," he said.
"These events not only allow us to share our culture but gives us the opportunity to learn from the others."
Fardin was at the event with his 10-month-old son Saam.
"He is a pure Novacastrian."
Pashtun is the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan with the Hazara a minority. While the latter have faced discrimination and violence in Afghanistan, the two groups danced together in Foreshore Park on Saturday in a traditional Pushtan dance called the Attan.
Azim is a member of the Afghan Hazara community in Newcastle.
He said the event on Saturday was "marvelous".
"The fact that our men and women got the chance to come together to witness other cultures gives us power to believe in our own culture and show off our own culture," Azim said.
Having left Afghanistan in 2012, Azim was in Indonesia for five years before coming to Newcastle in 2017.
"When I first came we had very little multiculturalism in Newcastle but it has definitely had growth. Newcastle in becoming very multicultural.
He said since the recent social and economic crisis worsened in his home country, the Afghani population in Newcastle has started to grow.
Another group which has been forced to flee their country due to war over the last few months is the Ukrainian population. Ms McGregor said while there is already an established Ukranian population in Newcastle, there have been around 40 people arrive from the country recently due to the invasion.
Yurii Chuchemko, who was at the festival selling his "healthy sweet balls", is one of these new arrivals. The former Masterchef Ukraine contestant arrived in Australia around two months ago.
He had been living in Thailand, operating a tourism business for the Russian-speaking market which collapsed almost immediately. It was the second time Mr Chuchemko had been displaced, the first was when he lived in Eastern Ukraine in 2014.
Mr Chuchemko now lives with his wife, who is due to have their first child in five weeks, in Fern Bay with a host family. With Mark Chapple, the father of their host family, the Chuchenkos have started a program to help Ukrainian refugees settle in regional Australia.
"Everything that has happened with us in Australia is a beautiful chance," Mr Chuchemko said.
"Days like this are very important for us to share stories from our homes."
