special Mauritius celebration last week at the Kubby House Child Care Centre.
The Kubby House Child Care Centre welcomed some special guests from Mauritius last Thursday to share their unique culture and cuisine with children and staff.
Mauritius-born Amy Curpen, the Lead Educator in the Kubby’s Explorers Room, had her parents, Jayen and Rajini, and soon-to-be in-laws, José and Lisebeth Dhoorah, visiting from Mauritius and she invited them to perform a traditional music/dance experience with the children.
Amy’s dad Jayen explained the traditional dance is called sega, which has its origins in East Africa, and is a huge part of their heritage.
“It is celebrated at festivals all year round, and not only celebrated at festivals, but is also a means of expression.
“Sega always brings people together,” he said.
Jayen said everyone in their family dances and it’s something they all learn at a young age from watching others dancing and singing.
While Amy, Rajini and Lisebeth danced sega in their huge colourful skirts for the children, Jayen, playing the traditional ravanne (similar to a large tambourine) and José on the triangle, provided the music.
The sega’s dance steps are quite simple, with the feet not really leaving the ground as the rest of the body (mostly the hips) moves in the rhythms of the ravanne.
The visitors also shared some of their cuisine making traditional banana fritters to share for morning tea.
The two couples are visiting Australia for two months (here for Amy and fiancé Andy’s wedding) and said they have been enjoying looking around Cobar.
“Cobar is beautiful and the lifestyle is quite similar to ours. The people in town are very friendly,” Lisebeth said.
“The history of Cobar is fascinating.
“We have been able to learn a lot about the mines and more.”
