Nepal Festival 2012: Weaknesses and Opportunities
The Nepali version of the news was online through different Nepali website based in Belgium. I'm posting the English version here!
Writing commentary or news has
not been my speciality in recent years. Not due to the busy schedule but just
giving comment does not always effectively lead to a solution.
Last Sunday I was in Nepal festival in Antwerp.
Like everyone else, I had heard and read about it in different online
platforms and quite curious to attend. Even though it had already been
organized so many times; it was the first time I was going to attend the first
time remains quite memorable.
After visiting the event, the
whole thing was going in my head and thought to pin it down to share what they
feel; I believe that there are so many other people who feel the same!
Let me tell first what I saw
there. I arrived there around 15u. Raining and cold Belgian summer weather
seemed quite hardly affecting the organizing committee. As the main stage
didn’t have a covered roof, the performances had to be halted in
every 10 min. The enthusiasm of the announcer wasn’t really helping to unite
the folks around the stage. There were few stalls selling Nepali handicrafts
and food. I also noticed a stall giving info about organized travel journeys to
Nepal
and there was a stall where you could get Posters printed by Nepal Tourism
Board.
I had some snacks, wandered
around, and greeted the people I know. Giving a percent wouldn’t be accurate,
but I could clearly tell that almost everyone who were present there were
Nepali leaving few “Belgian” apart. I
saw 3 cultural shows given by different ethnic group representing Nepali dance,
music and dresses.
I heard afterwards that the
programme was inaugurated by Nahima Lanjri a federal parliament member of
CD&V. She is a heavyweight within the party but I really have a feeling
that we missed the charm and opportunity. This program could have helped to
enlighten many people who were unknown about Nepal and our rich cultural and
natural heritage.
Here I have come up with comment
which could be taken into consideration for upcoming events.
The biggest weakness was the advertisement of the
programme. The programme was supposed to introduce Nepal to the Belgian people but
almost nobody knew about it. I did an online search where I found no
information about the event. There were almost only Nepalis present coz no
Belgian people were aware of it. The few who were there were actually invited
by us so they knew already someone from Nepal. The organizer published it
in Nepali online sites but didn’t think about publishing it in Belgian/Dutch
website. Gazet Van Antwerpen could have been a perfect example. De Antwerpnaar;
which is delivered for free to every family living in Antwerp. They publish every two weeks every
event of the city. Our event could have easily got into their paper but the
organizer didn’t think about it. City of Antwerp
organizes lot of event during the summer with the name of “Zomer van Antwerpen”.
No, we didn’t think to get our event there. The publicity was the biggest
reason why we had such a little attendance of Belgians in the programme.
The announcer was speaking in English
and Nepali. Wouldn’t it have been ideal to do the announcements also in Dutch?
I don’t think we lacked enough Dutch speaking lads and ladies here though. That
would also give us the opportunity to show that we respect the local language
and people and are even integrated into the society here. It would have also
attracted other people who couldn’t speak English. Whether we like it or not,
Dutch is the language of this place and it should have got priority in the
announcement.
The location itself was a minor too. I wonder why
we didn’t choose the “Groenplaats”, “Grote Markt or the front of the Central
Station. You could have easily attracted 1000s of people if those locations
could have been chosen. You should have just contacted the city council for the
permission. Het Steenplein itself is very outlying place and very unlikely that
people would show up there unless they knew about it. You could have put some
marking or arrows from the Groenplaats, may be with Nepali flag or an
attracting picture to attract the curious people. I searched that and sadly
found none.
The preparation lacked visibility. I had read few
times in the Nepali online news sites where they had been meetings and people
holding positions for different responsibilities but the outcome was far worse
than it sounded like it would be. A Program organized by the embassy of our
proud country was so minimized. It lacked the charm, the festivality and
entertainment. You could have easily put some child animation activity, Dress
up like Nepali act, or proper welcome gate where you feel like you are now
entering in Nepal.
The main stage didn’t have roof. Every other stall
did have a roof!!! I don’t know why they decided to build up a stage without
room even though the weather forecast wasn’t really so good. Even though the
forecast had been good, you can’t really trust Belgian weather. It was raining
and the stage programs were broken every 10 min. That just shows the scarcity
of preparedness and professionalism.
At the end, if it had been called a day for Nepali
in Antwerp I
would say it was good enough according to Nepali standard. But if you organize
a programme saying we want to attract tourists and introduce our rich culture
and heritage then it didn’t work out. With all the respect to the organizer who
worked hard to make it possible, you didn’t represent Nepal as it should have
been. Neither do I think that the programme made anyone interested to come to Nepal.
Our friends go to Nepal
because we tell them personally how helpful, friendly and generous we are.
I hope this news reaches as a positive feedback to
the organizer so that the future events could do better!
Raj
