Awareness of men’s well-being and healthy relationships, key highlights of International Men’s Day 2021 Sydney

SEVA International, Sri Lanka Association of NSW Inc and Boronia Multicultural

Services collaborated to celebrate International Men’s Day on 20 November 2021

via an online virtual event.

International Men’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate the positive values men bring to

the world, their families and the communities. The aim of this day is to recognise

positive role models, raise awareness of men’s well-being and promote healthy

relationships.

One of the six pillars of International Men’s Day (19th November) is to improve gender

relations and promote gender equality not only for men but for women too.

The IMD theme for 2021 is “Better relations between men and women.”

20 November is also the International Children’s Day. These two days celebrate men

and children and the special relationships they share. Both days encourage men to

teach their children, particularly boys in their lives, the values, character and

responsibilities of being a man.

“Waste no more time arguing what a good man should be. Be one.” –

Marcus Aurelius

It is only when we all, both men and women, lead by example that we will be able to

create a fair and safe society which allows everyone the opportunity to prosper.

The event celebrated the positive contribution of men and keynote speakers

addressed the following topics:

Mohit Kumar from NSW Police spoke on Building Happy and Healthy

relationships and emphasized the need to give quality time to your family, reflecting

on your own behaviour and how you make others feel, practice gender equality at

home, be a role model and influence the other men around you to also be good role

models.

Dr Thava Seelan OAM from Bridgeview Medical Centre spoke on the need for men

to look after their Physical Health and Wellbeing. He mentioned that the key health

areas for men are heart health, diabetes, bowel, skin and prostrate cancer and

encouraged men to know and look for early signs as early detection is the key.

Kamal Sarma, Chair of the RUOK Day’s Think Tank spoke on Men’s Mental Health

and provided excellent tips on how to improve resilience, communication skills,

connection skills and the Thriving Triangle: Authenticity, Vulnerability and Humility.

He encouraged men and boys to be able to show emotions without fear of

judgement – it is ok to not be ok.

Deepak Vinayak OAM joined from Melbourne and spoke about the role of

fatherhood – the importance of how you treat your child, how he/she perceives the

relationship with their father – is he caring and treats everyone with respect. He said

that if a father cares for his children, they too will grow to be caring and respectful. A

son’s relationship with his father will form his character and how he relates to

everyone. Positive role model will help him grow up emotionally secure.

Dr Geoff Lee, State MP for Parramatta and Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education

also highlighted the need for men to take time to look after their personal health and

not ignore the early signs. He also highlighted the need to be a positive role model to

your children as “You can’t be what you can’t see”.

Dr Sunil Vyas, President of United Indian Associations NSW and Councillor

Suman Saha, Cumberland Council also shared their personal insights and

encouraged men to reflect on their own behaviour, call out bad behaviour and

encourage friends to also do the right thing.

The event was co-ordinated by Nalika Padmasena President Sri Lanka Association,

Bernadette Agyepong Manager Boronia Multicultural Services, Gayathri Dharmagesan, Sunila Kotwal and Sumati Advani President SEVA International Inc.