Held on 10 June 2023 at the Union Cultural House, the Couleur Café festival aims to raise awareness about, showcase and celebrate African culture in Copenhagen through performance arts, expos, music and food.
Crossing Borders had the privilege to pitch a stand with educational materials. CB was represented by a strong team of 7 members from 7 countries comprising Brazil, Denmark/Cameroon, France, Lebanon, Turkey, Global and India. The purpose of being part of the event was to promote CB School Workshops, the Migrantour and Food For Thought.
Between the sound of the tambourines, the outstanding African dances, colourful booths, the smell of the delicious food, the CB team invited participants to learn more about our organisation and support us in our projects. We did a Coffee & Climate Quiz and a manual activity to engage people, consisting of leftover filter coffee mixed with olive oil to rub hands to raise awareness about food waste and how to use leftover coffee to protect, heal and keep our hands soft and elegant.
I personally really enjoyed being part of this event. It was a truly nice day with great music and food. The performances were impressive and captivating. We promoted our projects to the participants in a fun way. It was nice to experience this event with CB team! I will remember the moment where all the children gathered to dance and listen to kids’ songs, so cute. I also really liked taking part in organising the event, very enriching.
Let’s take a look at other CB members perceptions about the event:
Giselle: Diversity, culture and good vibes surrounded the Union Building in Copenhagen during the vibrant Couleur Café event on the second Saturday in June 2023. Inspired by the name of the event, Crossing Borders team members devised fun climate action activities to engage the event audience and raise awareness on how climate change seriously affects coffee plantations in tropical countries. In addition, participants left the event with soft hands after massaging their hands with coffee scrub made with leftover ground coffee, giving it a second chance to be used in a sustainable and fun way.
Furkan: Through Crossing Borders, being a part of Couleur Cafe 2023 was a great opportunity for us to promote CB works, projects, and events. Also, listening to African music with cultural dances, tasting traditional foods, and seeing handcrafts from all around Africa was a remarkable experience. For me, the highlight of the event was the activity we made with coffee leftovers. I learned a very useful method to make my hands soft by scrubbing my hands with these leftovers.
Tanya: With an incredibly sunny day and good vibes, Couleur Café proved to be a delightful experience. I enjoyed the opportunity to strategize for the event and engage in brainstorming sessions with the entire team to plan marketing activities. My personal highlight of the event, however, was the amazing food I got to taste that was infused with Jamaican flavours!
Aman: Couleur Café made us travel to Africa through good music, captivating dance, delicious street food and amazing performance art! The CB stand was at a strategically located spot to promote our programmes in Denmark and projects. We used fun methods like quizzes and friendly competition to engage and promote to our Food for Thought, School Workshops and Migrantour. My favourite moment: seeing the participants and the CB members dancing to the rhythm of the drums!
Christoffer: The event was great for talking to people about our Food For Thought and School Workshop events, everyone I talked to was interested in our work. The music performances were also really nice to watch together with other CB members. Would definitely attend again!
Maryam: It was a very festive event with lots of colours and good energy. The music and dances were cultural and new to me, which I enjoyed very much! There was great food, long lines but still worth the wait!
Written by Anna Bonenfant, Intern at Crossing Borders
