Arthi Sivabalan

My passion for cultural rep stems from my wish to welcome a variety of Tamil cultures from: Sri Lanka, India, Singapore or other countries in which it's an official language. I would love to be able to bring everyone together in an inclusive environment to learn about the diversity in Tamil cultures and how it varies between countries or even villages, as being Tamil forms a huge part of our identity and it is important to understand where it comes from. I am standing mainly because as someone who loves to embrace in my Tamil culture, I'm worried for the future generations where the culture may become diluted and lost within the Western world. For most of us, our parents have gone through many struggles during the Civil War in Sri Lanka to fight for our Tamil rights and I believe it's now our responsibility to keep our culture going forward for our parents and to value the lives of those lost during the identity war. Also, if I have the chance to become culture rep I would explore the different aspects of Tamil culture such as: language, arts, music, traditions, cooking and even the lifestyle of living. It would be nice to be able to remotely connect with Tamil villages and hear about the evolution of our culture and how it shapes how we live today. We can even try some of them out e.g. traditional cooking competitions. Overall, I'm good at communicating with others and making sure everyone feels included which I think are two important qualities of being a cultural rep.