Ladies Cultural Night 2018

Date: 21st July 2018

Ladies Cultural Night 2018 organised by Woman Care Trust on 21st July 2018 achieved multiple goals in one evening. The Event held at the Vodafone Event Centre in Manukau, witnessed by more than 2700 female members of the migrant Punjabi community attended the event with utmost zeal and enthusiasm. This proved to be another big and remarkable event in the history of Woman Care Trust Cultural events. The show was a sold out event, we had to close the ticket sale due to the venue fully occupied by the ladies.

This was the third year for the organisation to independently organise the event involving women of every age and talent at the cultural festival. Children from the age of six to senior women up and above 70 participated in one of the most anticipated events of the migrant Punjabi community. The event was an opportunity for women to showcase their talent at the show.

Woman Care Trust is overwhelmed by the response from the audience at the event. The success of the event helped WCT in achieving its goal of Women’s Wellbeing and Community Development. The idea behind the event was to keep the Punjabi Community attached to their roots, spreading the diversity of Punjabi culture and creating awareness among young generation of their culture.

This year our organisation had arranged to buy Punjabi Cultural items-Madhani , Charkha , Jaggo , chakhi , Bagh , Jhajj from India to set the photo booth area at the event attracted all the ladies dressed up in Punjabi attire to capture beautiful memories with  these Cultural items in New Zealand.

Once the show was opened by all MC’s, the event commenced with the Punjabi holy prayer “Shabad” and kirtan recited by few members of WCT. Then the performances started with WCT Kids team who performed Punjabi folk dance -Bhangra. Another kid’s performance were presented by Saanjh Sports & Cultural Club, Punjabi Cultural Association and Shaan Punjabi Di. These little kids’ performances amazed everyone and the appreciation from the audience boosted their confidence level. Next was the surprise performance on Indian Bollywood mix songs by the team of Zumba instructor who conducts free Zumba classes at WCT.      

Another big feat for Woman Care Trust was the inauguration of the photographic exhibition of the oral history of the migrant Punjabi women in Auckland. Auckland Libraries created the exhibition in conjunction with the trust picking up stories of the members of the trust and exhibiting their growth within the community in pictures. The head of Research & Heritage Central library –Louise LaHatte, Team leader Stacey Smith and Smita Biswas from Auckland Libraries together with Baljit Dheil were called on stage for inauguration.

WCT senior members had prepared comedy play for the event which stole the show and was enjoyed by all age groups .After the comedy play, girls from Virsa Academy performed Bhangra and next was Gidha presented by “Mela Trinjana Da” group.

Baljit K Dheil honoured the members of WCT by giving them away certificates as per their duration of study in the English class.

WCT is very grateful to all the sponsors of Ladies Cultural Night 2018 for supporting our event. A big thank to all our sponsors: – Applejacks, Sajjan Beauty Parlour, Radiosadeala, Khazana Exotic Designer, Workaholic FSL, Auckland Reinforcing Services 1995 Ltd, Steven Singh & Sunny Gumber from Mike Perro, Legal Associates, Jesse Singh & Preet Kaur from Harcourts, Immigration Matters, Imperial Vaults, Glimpses and Kiwi Home Loans.

Most importantly in addition to the above sponsors WCT would like to specially thanks the organization’s Akarana Community Trust, Constellation Communities Trust Ltd and Air Rescue Trust” for approving and providing funds for organising the event , we would have not been able to make this event happen without their help and support. Also would like to request these organization’s to provide us the support in the future as well so that we can arrange similar activities for the benefit of the Community

We would like thank our Media Sponsors for promoting the event: – Radio Spice, NZ Punjabi News, KuK Punjabi Samachar, NZ Tasveer, Punjab Express, Indian Weekender, Ankhila Punjab and Humm FM 106.20

WCT had arranged to present Certificate of thanks and acknowledged the proud sponsors on stage.

To keep the flow of entertaining the audience next performance was prepared by WCT Gidha team (Golden Girls). The energy level of the ladies surprised ladies of all age groups and our Gidha team got motivated with the appreciation from the audience. Another bhangra performance was given Saanjh Sports & Cultural Club.

Video of the WCT classes and activities performed at the Community Centre and thank giving message to Sponsors kept playing on the side screen near the stage during the event. Audience were not taking their eyes off from the next Bhangra performance prepared by WCT Bhangra Team. The colours & designs of the Punjabi ethnic wear of the participants added brightness to the show. Another Gidha performance was presented by Punjabi Pride group. After Gidha & Bhangra shows, another was comedy performance by Shindo Mindo Company to entertain the audience.

WCT for the first time presented Volga Belly dance performance at the event, which was not only the surprise performance of the night but also captured special attention of the audience. All the girls dancing stopped in between to watch this fantastic performance.

There were few prize draws organised by Khazana Exotic design, Workaholic, Harcourts, Radiosadeala and Kiwi Home Loan.

After the last performance boliyan by Punjab Heritage Group audience demanded for live DJ. Since it was a women-only event, women danced and enjoyed the evening carefree and for women of different age groups and families having fun together.

Another commendable aspect of this event was the women in the community of different age groups who came under one roof and dance and enjoy the evening carefree.

All the performances were really fantastic, enjoyed and praised by the audience. WCT would like to congratulate and thanks all the participants for their performances and really appreciate the hard work and their efforts in making the event successful and memorable. Also the participants felt very proud and honoured to be part of the event as they got an opportunity to show their talent and get recognized in the society. Also this event kept the ladies so busy in the preparations that it was helpful to them in overcoming depression, loneliness and boredom.

The Event went out really well and success of the event paid of the hard work of the team. WCT is gathering really good experience every year in organising this event which will help us in organising similar events in near future and are also learning to improve the mistakes done in this event. We are overwhelmed by the response received from the people not only living in New Zealand but also our event was praised by foreigners. This way we achieved our goal of spreading our Punjabi Culture globally.