By Giselle GalamWell, it was another fantastic adventure as the FCHYC for 2011 kicked off! This year's camp was held at Camp Kedron, Ingleside on the 28th, 29th and 30th of January. This was yet another wonderful experience for the youth to learn about their heritage and really develop a sense of pride for their culture. The theme for the FCHYC 2011 was “Noon, Doon, Dito, Ngayon” translating to “Then, There, Here, Now”.
A pre-camp was organised prior to the camp and took place on the 23rd of January at Ridge Park Hall, Woodlands Avenue, Oxley Park. The pre-camp was definitely a fun-filled day. We were split up into our camp groups and had to work together to prepare various Filipino dishes. Well, I saw a lot of masterchefs that day! We participated in countless more activities establishing a sense of teamwork, cooperation and most importantly, a sense of friendship! It was an absolutely an exciting day and one I'm sure everyone will remember favourably.
On the 28th on January we all met up at the St. Mary's Senior Citizen's centre, eagerly lugging our bags to the bus, ready to get going! With a wave goodbye to our parents, we were off! The bus ride was enjoyable in itself, laughing, chatting and singing the moments away drawing ourselves closer to the great adventure ahead!
We arrived at the campsite, dumped our luggage in our cabins and went out to explore the camp grounds. A sports centre, cafeteria, recreational room....this place had everything! We then all met up in the conference room to formally begin the camp.
The days flew by all too quickly and we all found ourselves recalling the past events. We played the traditional Filipino games of sipa, Filipino jumping rope and soccer, competing in our teams to see who could claim victory. It was thrilling! We curled up and listened to spooky Filipino ghost stories and got the scare of our lives! We then had to bring out our creativity and design our own model jeepneys. All I can say is, we have some amazing artists out there! All the jeepneys looked awesome! There's just no other way to describe how great they were!
In our teams, we presented the traditional tribal dance, “Ati-Atihan” putting our own modern and unique twist to it. We also presented short skits on what life was like in the Philippines back then, and what life is like in Australia now regarding courting, clubbing, discipline, communication and transport. And let's not forget the all important talent night! We sat and watched cheering on each other as we got up and presented our talents. There were amazing singers, gifted guitarists, stunning magicians, hilarious skits and the list goes on! It was a camp filled with nothing but fun!
To end camp, we jumped into the bus and zoomed straight to the beach which was conveniently only ten minutes away! Blue skies, a picnic lunch and a bucket load of sunscreen made it a marvellous day to spend at the beach. We relaxed, played around in the sand and splashed about in the water. It was definitely the PERFECT way to end the FCHYC 2011.
This year's camp was SPECTACULAR! It was an absolutely amazing new adventure that I know I will remember forever! We all took away with us a better understanding of our culture and a better understanding of who we are as Filipino- Australians. I know that we all learnt something new at the FCHYC 2011, whether it be having learnt how to play sipa or how to dance the Ati-Atihan, I know for sure, that this was a great experience. We are blessed to have been given the opportunity to attend this camp. To all the people who made it possible, the staff of PLCAA, the parents, the volunteers and the people who helped fundraise, thank you all so much. Without you, none of this would have been possible. Thank you for your support, hard work and effort. This was such a memorable camp and I encourage you all to join us next year!
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