
This year, the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA) held its annual International Women’s Day event at the Royal Albert Hall, London’s iconic concert hall.
This event showcased the rich contribution that refugee and asylum-seeker women can bring to life in the UK. It included speeches by our Director Dr Nooralhaq Nasimi, MPs like Catherine West and Debbie Abrahams, Raha Khodadadi a member of the grassroots advocacy team called Voice of Iran, Paola Diana the author, activist and entrepreneur, and Zahra Shaheer, the Afghan journalist.
UCL Indian Dance Society and Queensmove from the Middle East filled the Hall with their Indian mudras and contemporary dance moves respectively. The set performance by Milad Yousofi, the famous Rubab player and Sulaiman Omar, a young and talented Tabla player and percussionist from London left the audience mesmerized.
To represent the culture of Afghanistan, Sana Nassari and the Women’s Movement of Afghanistan recited poems in Persian. The event also had an animation screening of ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ put together by the Art Refuge team, and ended with the book discussion of ‘Community Work with Migrant Women: ‘Insiders’ and ‘Outsiders’ in Research and Practice’ co-authored by Rabia Nasimi, Naomi Thompson, Andy Turner, and Marina Rova.
The event concluded with the attendees being provided with an opportunity to look at the exhibition by the famous humanitarian photographer and filmmaker Alan Compton, allowing people to engage in networking.