Australia: Gold Coast Multicultural Festival Embraces Falun Dafa

(Minghui.org) Australian Falun Dafa practitioners received a warm welcome back to the annual Gold Coast Multicultural Festival in Queensland on August 4, 2019.

The event funded by the Gold Coast City Council attracts more than 20,000 locals and visitors each year to the iconic Broadwater Parklands in Southport.

Gold Coast Greens Queensland election candidate Amin Javanmard (C) with practitioners

Greens candidate Amin Javanmard stopped by the Falun Dafa stall manned by practitioners. He wanted to know the outcome of a recent activity practitioners held locally to commemorate 20 years since the Chinese regime began persecuting Falun Dafa in Mainland China.

He was pleased to hear the event was a success and signed a petition to the Australian House of Representatives condemning the continuing forced harvesting of organs from practitioners in China. He and his family members were given paper lotus flowers and they were touched to learn that the lotus flower represents peace and purity in traditional Chinese culture.

Lisa, who recently had surgery to remove colon polyps, overheard a practitioner introducing the exercises to someone else and started copying the movements depicted on the A-frame Falun Dafa sign. When the practitioner offered to teach her, she agreed.

While doing the exercises she could sense the energy around her abdomen area. After finishing she said she could feel it was a very special exercise and would attend the local practice site.

Lewis and Wendy, on vacation from Victoria, spoke with practitioners. Lewis had always believed in meditation and Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance even though he had never studied Falun Dafa before. He was convinced it was fate that he was staying at a nearby caravan park and ran into Falun Dafa.

Lewis also added that Wendy would not normally have been able to walk the 1.3 km from the caravan park to the festival due to her recent breast cancer surgery and chemotherapy sessions. He was convinced that Falun Dafa could help his wife overcome her health challenges and help him with his own longstanding drinking habits and planned to attend the practice site.

A woman from Western Australia who had practiced tai chi and ancient Chinese medicine for many years, wanted to know what body parts move during the Falun Dafa exercises. After being told they involve the whole body, she was very interested and wanted to know where she could learn them.

Several people of different Asian backgrounds also stopped by and enjoyed hearing about the many health benefits of Falun Dafa and why the Chinese regime persecutes this peaceful practice. They signed the petition and were given a lotus flower.

Practitioners were also invited to demonstrate the Falun Dafa exercises on stage, and nearly every audience member took a flyer. Some of them visited the Falun Dafa stall afterward to find out more.