Malayalee Association of Queensland (MAQ) restarted the Bhoomi Malayalam programme, the language classes for kids held every fortnight, after the school holidays on February 9.
Inaugurated on November 2, 2019 at St Philips Anglican Church Hall, Annerley, Bhoomi Malayalam is the Malayalam language class initiated by MAQ as part of its primary objective of preserving Malayalee language, culture and heritage while assimilating in the local society.
“Language is a very important part of this agenda, and Bhoomi Malayalan came out of this desire to improve language skills amongst the younger generation of our community. Though Malayalam classes were held in an informal way a few years back, this is a more structured format,” read a statement by the Malayalee organisation.
There are currently 40 kids enrolled, with six members of the community volunteering as teachers. They conduct 2-hour sessions every fortnight. The teachers follow the curriculum developed by Malayalam Mission Kerala and Vipanchika Melbourne, and painstakingly try to make these classes as interesting, fun and educative for the kids as possible. The popularity of the classes can be gauged from the fact that there are several kids on the waiting list. To accommodate more kids and to ease the pressure on current teachers, MAQ is seeking assistance from within the community.
MAQ also holds cultural events like Onam, Christmas and Vishu/Easter, sporting events like badminton and cricket tournaments, fundraisers for natural calamities like drought and bushfire, blood donation and bone marrow donor drives as part of societal obligations.