Equal x Glocal

[TODAY!!! 4-5.30 p.m. ] Hong Kong Unison is sharing about racial equality, come and learn more about the topic~

Equal x Glocal Live up to your title as a global villager.
This is a project supported by Stanley Ho Alumni Challenge and presented by the 1984 Inclusion Fund.

We are now heading south to North America, our sixth country to explore is Canada.

Canada seems to be so familiar but foreign to us at the same time – familiar because we sure have heard about the country; foreign because seems our impression of the country is limited to maple syrup, bears and ice hockey. But this country, like the other 194 in the world, is unique and full of exciting facts as well!

Canada was actually named ‘Canada’ because of a misunderstanding. When Jaques Cartier, a French explorer, thought the local Natives call the land Canada while they were referring to ‘kanata’ (the word for ‘village’). Apparently, Canadians have to largest crave for donuts than another country – beating the rest of the world with having the most donut shops per capita.

Well, sure enough, Canada is all about that nature as well. Do you know, Canada has more lakes than the rest of the world combined? And like it or not, Canada is home to approximately 55,000 different species of insects. Also, residents of Churchill leave their cars unlocked to let pedestrians escape from polar bear attacks. More on polar bears, the car plates in Northwest territories are shaped like a polar bear! Would you like to have a car there just to have this special car plate?

Do you know where is the capital of Australia? It is neither in Sydney nor is it in Melbourne. So if the capital city if not in Australia’s two biggest and most prosperous city, where is it?

The capital of Australis is Canberra. ‘Why?’ you may ask.

At the end of 19th century, when the Federation was being discussed and the capital was to be made, Sydney and Melbourne were fierce rivals in the claim to being Australia's capital city. Sydney was the older city with a richer history while Melbourne was the prosperous city back then. To compromise, it was decided that neither would be the capital city and a site equidistant from the two cities should be chosen instead. That site happened to be Canberra.

So in other words, as the choice between Sydney and Melbourne could not be made, the Australians diplomatically chose a city in the middle between them instead!

We are heading to Northern Europe for the 3rd destination: Norway

When everyone thinks that all Shushi would be invented by the Japanese, but WRONG! Norway actually introduced the salmon Shushi to Japan. Mind blowing fact, right?

Another thing about the country is that it really values human rights and equality. Norway stopped investing money into Walmart having decided that the company is guilty of “serious violations of fundamental ethical norms.” Norway also granted refuge for a US criminal because the Norwegian Supreme Court found the US prisons not up to humanitarian standards. Moreover, Norway is the first country to declare compulsory paternity leave, reserving up to 14 weeks for fathers!

And for the sake of having some cuteness in our daily lives, it’s good to know that Norway knighted penguin in 2008.

COMING SOON: "Tie in" Sharing session
People are tied together since we live on the same globe, breath from the same atmosphere and are supported by the same sun. Yet, we seldom pay attention to what’s in common but would scrutinise the differences in skin colour, accent, nationality and more – the tie is loss gradually. Want to know what you could do to save this tie? Come join the sharing session and find out more on ethnic equality and ways to tackle racial discrimination!

2nd stop: Italy, or more correctly, Italian Republic.

You might think that with all the cathedrals and great monuments, Italy would be long established country. But surprise, surprise! It only become a country officially some 153 years ago.
It seems like Italians are particularly fond of coffee, consuming 14 bn expressos consumed annually with 3.7 grams of coffee per capita.

Italy is not all about pizzas and pastas (though its cuisine was rated as the best), There are quite a few useful inventions which were first invented in Italy, such as the thermometer and battery.

Equal x Glocal is delighted to have collected $300 from the international talent show! This sum would be donated to Hong Kong Unison to support their work in helping ethnic minorities in Hong Kong, promoting racial harmony in society. Thank you for everyone’s contribution and support, here is the proof that the donation have been made!

Let’s start our little virtual journey from Europe, the first stop is...Germany, the country with largest economy in Europe.
Germany’s capital might be Berlin now, but its capital has actually been shifted seven times. Some of the cities include Aachen, Regensburg and Frankfurt-am-Main.

Do you know that you could break the law if you do not name you children correctly? There are actually law specifying that the name should denote the gender of the baby and the family name must be in the first name.

And of course, who would not think of beer when mentioning Germany. You might think that Germans drink the most beer in Europe, but no, Czechs beat the Germans to it. Nonetheless, Germans still consumed an impressive 2.55 billion gallons of beer in 2012 even though that was the lowest record since the reunification!

The first step of embracing diversity is to understand other's culture. Equal x Glocal will start posting a series of fun and unique facts about some countries around the world. Stay tuned to find out how much (or how little) you actually know!

The international talent show was so much fun! Not only did we learn about quirky facts about different countries in the world, we also get to meet new friends from different countries as well – can you actually believe there are actually at least 4 nationalities present last night?
Of course, special thanks to the performers and Kong U Big Band for giving us mesmerising performances. Congratulations to the lucky draw winners as well! It was a good night with good vibes.

Equal x Glocal is now recruiting performers for the international talent show!

Grasp this fabulous chance to gain a HKD50-prize while demonstrating your countries' uniqueness in this fun and thrilling event where you could meet new friends from all over the world, learn about different cultures, have great food and play exciting games.

Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfaie8G0s9pP5anKEm66-pDz4oRAsgT3ax7FNGodgEKHfsjEA/viewform?usp=sf_link

Performance for International Talent Show Thank you so much for being interested in being a performer in Equal x Glocal's international talent show. Fill in the form below to let us know the details of your performance. If it is a group performance, it would suffice for a group member to fill this form, just indicate it in Q8 below that it…

We have heard of local, we have heard of global, but have you ever heard of GLOCAL?

Keep up with our events to learn more about the term and how to act like a glocal citizen!