I was given the privilege of writing about my experiences from the recent Fillipino Cultural Heritage Youth Camp ( FCHYC ) organised by the Philippine Language and Cultural Association of Australia ( PLCAA ) under the cultural program of the Penrith Community Filipino School. By now this would have been my second attendance to the camp as well as the first time leading such an event as a group consultant. Overall the camp left a positive impression on me. I met and interacted with a whole range of different youths with various personalities giving me that feeling of a sort of camaraderie with all participants involved. It seemed as though no one was left out as the group readily accepted new people as though they have been friends far longer than the three short days the camp warranted.
In those three days we learnt much about our heritage as Filipino youths. We identified three of the most documented indigenous tribes of the Philippines: the Ifugao, the Maranao and the T’Boli. We learnt about each tribe’s way of life with their rich and expansive culture and history.
The theme of the 2012 FCHYC was Pinoy Survivors and like the name suggested the participants were split into three tribes to battle it out for supremacy. We went through the motions of the first day, we introduced ourselves to the groups and acclimated ourselves to the environments of Camp Kedron.
Our first real challenge was the creation of a tribal flag, and wow, the amount of creativity and ingenuity of the groups really showed during and after the completion of the flags. It was great seeing everyone working together to make flags that represented us as tribal groups as well as youths of the Philippines. In my modest opinion I still think T’Boli had the better flag only because I was also part of that group.
A display of the artistic, colourful tribal flags made by the Youth camp participants.
Camp directors appreciated their creativity with much pride and joy.
The night came and with it so did Trivia: Tribal Feud. Similar to the concept of ‘1 vs 100’ each group were told to write down a list of things that correlate to a selection of 14 questions related to the Philippines in general. T’Boli of course, blew the rest of the competition out of the ball park as we were just that awesome. On the second day we had a Survivor- like challenges combined with an
Amazing Race- themed challenge where the groups raced against each other in various Philippine- themed challenges in an attempt to be the first group to cross the finish line. After a few false starts, the games began with T’boli again securing first place, followed closely by Ifugao and Maranao for the second and third place respectively. By now T’boli had a large gap on the leader board and victory was assured… how very wrong we were.
The next challenge of Day 2 had the groups creating regional headdresses for the tribes they represented. We were instructed to make pieces that could be seen as having come from the region as well as putting our own contemporary spin in the creating process. Now I for one can readily admit I lack creativity when it comes to fashion so I was at a loss when trying to help the others in creating a head piece that represented T’Boli. The other groups had such elaborate designs, and up to this day of writing has still baffled and shocked me. I had no idea you could do those things with paper, fabric and thread.
The Camp challenges came to a close with the most epic of final challenges. The camp Directors ushered all tribal groups inside the basketball courts, gave us tags that we were to defend with our lives and let us outsmart each other with our hidden strategies to grab other tags. It was chaotic, it was thrilling and it was really, really fun. Although I was a bit peeved when I realised the other two groups had formed an alliance to take T’Boli down. Still it just goes to show how awesome everyone else thought our group was.
The day came to a close with everyone relaxing after an intense day of challenges and we spent the night’s ‘Variety Night’ watching in awe at the talents of every one of the youths that came on this trip with us. It was a great way to end the camp officially by having everyone showcasing their individual strengths before retiring for the day.
All in all I had a great time during this year’s camp. I’ve learnt a lot about the cultural heritage of the land in which I came from. I made friends with people I normally would not have had the chance to interact with and just have fun. I look forward to the future youth camps that the PLCAA will be having and encourage other youths in the local area to come join in the fun the next time it comes around. Don’t worry about being left out coz everyone there will welcome you with open arms.
Pinoy Game: Agawan Base Challenge
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