Filipino Cultural Camp Memories
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Filipino Cultural Immersion Camp Graduation
Adeline, my nine-year-old granddaughter wants to sing "Bayan Ko" for the program and she wants me to bring champorado (chocolate-rice porridge) for the dinner potluck. I tell her that champorado is a breakfast dish. She asks me, "Gramma Candy, can you make adobo instead? Or something originally Filipino?"
I make adobo for the potluck, a special request from my granddaughter.
At this point, my heart flutters as I recall the ten-day Filipino cultural immersion camp that Adeline and I went to in Santa Clara, California last July. Established by the University of the Philippines Alumni Association San Francisco (UPAASF), this two-week program is on its sixth year.
Filipino American students, ages 8-16, were recruited through St. Justin's Community Parish and the surrounding schools in the heart of Silicon Valley. The hard work of Ana Segovia, camp director, and Sonia Delen and Letty Quizon, camp co-founders, bore fruit. The aim was to engage Fil-Am students in learning about Filipino heritage in a classroom/camp setting. It was ten days of fun, education, community building, and instilling pride in our Philippine heritage for 42 students of Filipino American descent.
Filipino history, language, martial arts, culinary delights, games, weaving (hinabi), Baybayin, popular culture, music and performing arts were incorporated in the curriculum. We even took a day to visit the Philippine Consulate and the California Academy of Science that featured the Anilao Coral Reef, one of its two major permanent exhibits.
Learning Kalinga weaving with Jenny Bawer
Field trip to the California Academy of Sciences
With the help of Professor Myke Gonzales, History/Baybayin teacher from City College of San Francisco; Alcide “Sonny” Alforque, co-founder and artistic director of Sinag-Tala Filipino Theater and Performing Arts Association of Sacramento; and this writer, UP Alumni '76, the kids performed a heart-stirring tableau of excerpts from the Kartilya ng Katipunan, and role-played Filipino heroes and their accomplishments.
(Left to right) Ana Segovia, Alcide Alforque, Candy Bandong and Myke Gonzales, teachers for 2019 Pilipino Immersion Camp (Photo courtesy of Candy Bandong)
Young students who had never spoken much Tagalog introduced themselves in Pilipino and told friends where their grandparents or parents came from in the Philippines. The younger students danced the itik-itik (duck dance) and the older students performed the tinikling (bamboo dance). Jazlynn Pastor and Noelle Campos taught the movements and the meaning of the dances. Lillian Kwiatkowski, pianist, taught the children “Bayan Ko,” “Lupang Hinirang” and folk songs from the motherland.
The best part of this learning camp is that students did not feel that learning songs, writing a journal, speaking in a new language in front of a big audience, and actually taking part in a big stage production was an academic experience. They learned about stagecraft and its attendant responsibilities. It was hard work that the students enjoyed. As a part of the teaching team, I enjoyed the fast pace and rigor of the curriculum. There was no spare hour to lose.
On each of those ten days, students and parents entered the classroom saying "Mano po, " "Magandang umaga." At the end of the day, they would say, "Paalam.... salamat po." Some words were so endearing to hear.
It was a hot summer, so the kids preferred being outdoors. But we kept them very busy during the eight hours we had them. It was patintero or tumbang preso (Filipino children’s games) during lunchtime. We even had Japanese paper balls for catch-and-throw inside the classrooms. Activities included arnis and Filipino martial arts with Escabo Daan, with the help of Jose Bautista. Corey Wolffs did a violin presentation featuring the new sounds he produces. He also talked about his career in the performing arts, drawing from his multicultural family background. He encouraged students to pursue higher education as well. Susie Quesada from Ramar Foods brought a lot of Magnolia ice cream! She even demonstrated how food tests were conducted by their company to create real Filipino ice cream flavors that are based on real cream and real fruit from the Philippines.
Learning Filipino Martial Arts with Teacher Joseph Bautista
My granddaughter sings "Lupang Hinirang" (Philippine national anthem) in the car; she has checked out YouTube videos of Mickey Bustos (a Filipino Canadian comedian) who raps about Filipino culture. She tells me that she regrets not understanding what "Mano po" (Tagalog) or "pinsiw" (Pangasinan) was when her great grandparents were still around.
Jim Cortes, the 90-year-old UPAASF board chairman, brought fresh balut (boiled duck egg embryo) for the youngsters to sample. Fifty percent liked it, and the other half said it was not for them. We tasted lumpia shanghai that Nina Quesada Rimini brought ingredients for and demonstrated how to cook it, showing that the special technique for wrapping the lumpia was sealing the rice paper wrapper with water.
My favorite part of the program were the songs that we let the kids sing while they played “tag” or “Sinong Taya.” Kids sang “Pen pen de sarapen” while forming a circle around a blindfolded “it.” By the end of 10 rounds of laughter combined with singing, their version of the ditty was well polished! We also learned “Tong Tong Takitong Kitong” by changing all the vowel sounds as we sang the whole song five times with a, e, i, o, u, “Tang, Tang Tang Tang Takitang Katang” and beyond. Some students loved doing art projects in a small corner where we provided materials for making masks, trinkets, and whatever found items they could gather from our pile of art supplies.
What a lovely recollection from summer, it was the best ten days of July I spent with students who are like my grandkids. These are students in America who will be sharing their heritage this fall in their respective schools. Hopefully, our children will have plenty to share and be proud about.
About the UPAASF Cultural Immersion Camp
Each summer, the University of the Philippines Alumni Association of San Francisco (UPAASF) holds a two-week cultural immersion camp from 9:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. for Filipino American children in the SF Bay area, with the goal of introducing and educating second- and third-generation Filipinos on Filipino culture, language, history, and the arts. We are thankful to the volunteer teachers and subject matter experts on Philippine heritage. For 2020, UPAASF will make available camps in Santa Clara and in the East Bay. Volunteer teachers, program sponsors and donors to provide scholarship to eligible children are most welcome. For more information, please send an email to info@upaasf.org. Follow UPAASF on Facebook, Twitter (@upaa_sf).
UPAASF Board: Roger Diaz, Board Member; Sonia Delen, Board President & Immersion Camp Co-Founder; (Graduation speaker) Dr. Gap Legaspi, UP-PGH Executive Director; Letty Quizon, Board Member & Immersion Camp co-founder; Ana Segovia, Board Member, Immersion Camp Director; Luisa Yee, Board Member; and Jim Cortes, Board Chairman
Candy Bandong
Candy Lagmay Bandong is a grandmother of two and a retired computer lab mentor from the San Mateo Union High School District in Northern California. She loves to travel and meet new friends. Her passion is art, music and technology. She is also an avid cyclist.
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