The Don Bosco Technological Institute celebrated PNG's 48th Independence with a mini cultural show on Thursday in the school campus at East Boroko. With the theme "Strengthen Unity through Cultural Diversity" Vice President for Academic and Technical Affairs Dr. Catherine Nongkas stated that the young people of this nation needed to know what is important in these celebrations. “While we may come from different parts of the country, with all our dancing and singing and customs and traditions, we belong to one country and that’s what we want to get across.” “Not everything is happening the way we want it to go but still as the people of this nation we must be grateful for the traditions that we have.” Finding the time in between their academic program get together and practice their songs and dances was tough for the students but they’ve been up to the task and are proud to be presenting. Dr. Nongkas stressed that our cultural barriers can be both negative and positive and they need to be broken down to show our unity as one country. “Negative in the sense that it can divide us because we can only promote one way of thinking, but it is really a source of strength for us and positive in the sense that we are unique.” “Twenty-two provinces but we are one country.” Dr. Nongkas appealed to the public minority that think the country shouldn’t be celebrating as it has not achieved anything that is worth celebrating and has urged that there are a lot of things that we should be grateful for in our country because other parts of the world are not as fortunate to experience these things. “The beauty, fresh air and the freedom that we experience is something we need to thank the Lord and be grateful for.” Along with the cultural performances from our 22 provinces, the school had invited the Philippines and Solomon Island Staff to perform their traditional dances also to join in the Mini Independence Celebrations. The Solomon Island staff will be performing dances from Temotu and Izabell provinces while the Philippines Staff will also be performing the Bulaklakan and Tinikling dances. Meanwhile the mini cultural show doubled as a celebration and a fundraiser as the ticket proceeds will go towards the Graduating students’ end of year formal. Committee spearhead Edmond Defensor stated that the students aim to raise K5000 from the 500 tickets that will be sold. He added that the celebration was delivered after careful planning done with the restrictions in the school and from the Vadavada youths and the students to help the students create a safe space for their celebrations.