Global Village – An International Journey with Friends.

An article by Marko, our Serbian Human Resources Advisor. His folk dance for Global Village was something to see…

“We have the highest number of women who have won the Miss World competition…  per capita” Disa, our Home Based Production and Micro Enterprise Coordinator, proudly stated during her Global Village presentation. Not many people realized Icelanders liked to express country facts by per capita…

The Global Village event gathered the 15 nationalities working for Friends-International in the Phnom Penh head office. The event saw employees from each country group together and proudly display their country’s culture through food, dress and group presentations. Global Village aimed to celebrate the cultural diversity within the FI workplace.

Some of the Cambodian contingent at Friends head office.

The variety of food was incredible; Cambodians brought food from each of their home provinces displaying the amazingly rich cultural diversity of Cambodia.  The Australians cooked a BBQ while the French brought cheese, bread and liver pate. In between stuffing our faces with the fantastic food prepared, we were entertained by the creativity of each country presentation. Each presentation was bursting with energy and fun, filling the room with laughter. Traditional Indian Ghagra Cholis, French berets, a rock performance by our colleagues from the UK, traditional dance from Serbia made the day colourful, fun and educational.

The French team with yummy goodies.

It is a great privilege to work in such a diverse workplace. Having a multicultural environment is a huge reason FI has fresh ideas and different professional perspectives. Although it can be challenging trying to bring everyone together under the same idea, when we agree and believe we are doing the right thing, the gaps become smaller and we embark on another international journey with friends.

India presentation by Kanchan and Joanna.