The Wee Tea House celebrates Moon festival at Portrush Town Hall

Around 100 people including members of the local community, the minority ethnic community, community groups and statutory bodies were invited to join the Chinese culture and food experience. The evening was a fun filled, vibrant occasion for all to enjoy Chinese music, authentic Chinese food, festive games and crafts.

The Mayor Cllr Steven Callaghan attended and said: “This was a wonderful event that brought together a variety of people from different backgrounds and gave them the opportunity to learn about Chinese culture. I am delighted to support this worthwhile programme and to help highlight the good work that these women are doing in our local community.”

‘The Wee Tea House’ programme was created and is facilitated by Bonny Cooper, China Connections, with the support of a group of local Chinese women in Causeway Coast. The programme seeks to provide a safe, connective learning space for first and second generation Chinese migrant women in Causeway to come together, provide support for each other, learn essential skills English and help to build confidence in being active in the local community.

The programme started in October 2022 and is now in its fourth phase, supported and funded by Radius Housing. The women taking part grow and develop new skills with each cohort. This includes learning more about Northern Ireland history and culture and creating opportunities through Cultural Awareness sessions and events to promote mutual respect and understanding of Chinese and NI culture within local communities.

Cultural events including Chinese New Year, Boat festival, Lantern festival and now Moon Festival are attracting bigger and bigger participation in Coleraine and this phase of the programme has also seen ‘The Travelling Tea House’ where the women from the group are going out to deliver cultural awareness sessions in the community. Sessions have been delivered to North West Integrated College, Ballysally Women’s group, Moneydig Hen Shed and PSNI.

The programme has also introduced Chinese language lessons for children which are open to the whole community, these are delivered by one of the women volunteering who was a teacher in China.

Lisa Mooney, Radius Housing Communities Officer in Coleraine has said of the programme: “We are delighted to be connected with and support this cross cultural learning and development programme. The wee tea house has had tremendous success in increasing connection and civic engagement with Chinese Women across Causeway and local community and statutory bodies. It is inspiring to see their confidence grow with each cohort and to see the popularity of the workshops and events grow locally.”

Bonny Cooper, China Connections added: “As a group of Chinese women, supporting each other, we are combatting loneliness often felt by Minority Ethnic communities living in NI by celebrating our culture whilst also trying to understand more about NI culture and civic society and taking part in cultural celebrations with the local community to foster mutual understanding and respect.”

‘The Wee Tea House’ is supported by the Department for Communities and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive’s ‘Housing for All’ Shared Housing Programme.