The Hague, 28 June 2018: Bangladesh House, official residence of Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands, took a festive look to showcase colourful art and heritage of Bangladesh to the diplomatic community in the Netherlands. Overwhelmed upon witnessing the colourful cultural display of fashion parade, mock wedding and haloud, aspects of Tribal heritage, life of women and children etc , the diplomatic representatives also attempted to immerse into Bangladeshi culture. The diplomatic participants while rehearsing for the painstaking saree wearing or wrap themselves up with other cultural attire or artifacts, or joining the chorus for welcoming the bride and groom during mock wedding or haloud, invitees turned Bangladesh House into a little Bangladesh.
As part of the regular programme of Ambassadors’ Spouse Association’s (ASA), spouse of 20 Ambassadors based in the Netherlands gathered in the Bangladesh House on 27 June 2018. As an active member of ASA, Dr. Dilruba Nasrin, a renowned epidemiologist and spouse of Bangladesh Ambassador in the Netherlands organized this annual get together. The main objective of this program was presenting the rich culture of Bangladesh to the ASA members. Spouse of the Ambassador of Unietd Kingdom, Jordan, Spain, Iran, Thailand, Poland, Peru, Hungary, Mexico, South Africa, Malaysia, Pakistan, Slovakia, Morocco, Belarus, Panama, Philippines, Uruguay, El Salvador, Rwanda, spouse of the Deputy Mayor of The Hague, Ex President International Women’s Club, and representatives of print and electronic media attended the program.
At the outset, to draw the attention of the Diplomatic community towards Rohingya crisis, Dr. Nasrin delivered a presentation on this very pertinent and timely issue. She flagged few important points like- being a densely populated country how Bangladesh is hosting more than one million Rohingyas, the largest refugee camp is in Bangladesh, sufferings of Rohingyas who are the most persecuted community in the world, clear example of ethnic cleansing, how vulnerable women and children could be in this twenty-first century and the five point proposal of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resolve the issue. She also highlighted the courageous and humane leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, whom the world now came to know as “Mother of Humanity” in making all out arrangements to host such a large number of people and advocating for safe and secured return of the Rohingyas to their own country.
Apart from Rohingya issue, the guests were presented the concept of Saree, the traditional outfit of Bangladeshi women and the diverse varieties of Saree. In her eloquent deliberation she presented the weaving, texture, combination, wearing style, occasion and details of traditional mirpur katan, jamdani, maslin, tangail tant, dhakai benarashi, rajshahi silk and katha stitch. She mentioned that UNESCO recognized Bangladeshi jamdani weaving as an intangible heritage. Later on, members of embassy family displayed each kind of saree walking on the ramp as a part of fashion design and parade to promote Bangladesh.
To present the wedding culture of Bangladesh, children of the Embassy family portrayed gaaye- haloud and wedding ceremony of Bangladesh. The bride and groom took the get up of the ceremony. The enthusiastic guests enjoyed the display so much and joined the bride and groom on the stage. Attire of Tribal people of Bangladesh , primarily Chakma attire and dance were also presented to the guests. Later, interested guests participated in a saree wearing demonstration. Besides the programme, the guests enjoyed traditional bengali cuisine.
Overwhelmed guests while expressing their satisfaction to Dr. Nasrin and Bangladesh Embassy for organizing such a joyful event which not only showcased the rich culture of Bangladesh, also encouraged them about their human duty to do their part for the expedited solution of the Rohingya problem.
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