Four Ontario students set to attend Hawaii leadership camp

Four Ontario students set to attend Hawaii leadership camp

Karla Villanueva Danan (Kapisanan)

Need community support, donations

By Karla Villanueva Danan, Glyn Jhan Narca, Hilary Naluz

For almost 40 years, “magic” takes over Camp Erdman in Waialua, Hawaii as Filipino-American youth gather for the Sariling Gawa (SG) youth conference of collaborative leadership training rooted in community love and Filipino values.  For two years in British Columbia, Filipino-Canadian youth celebrate the Kababayan Academic Mentorship Program (KAMP) on the shores of beautiful Loon Lake. This summer, a Toronto delegation is seeking to cultivate that magic and beauty in Ontario by reviving Kababayan Multicultural Centre’s (KMC) summer camp.

The experience of Filipino youth growing up in the diaspora is riddled with challenges, including adjusting to family reunification, finding mentorship, and dealing with what it means to be Filipino. SG and KAMP create spaces for youth to confront and heal from these challenges, while imagining brighter futures for themselves and their families. Alumni of these camps describe them as “magical” and “inspiring” weekends where Filipino youth voices and experiences are at the forefront, providing them with new mentors and friends – transformative resources and supports for the rest of their lives.

Kristian Pacpaco (FCAR)

Since 2015, Monica Batac, PhD Social Work student at McGill University, has been weaving together SG and KAMP with the Toronto community.

With funding from Laidlaw Foundation, KMC facilitated a Filipino Youth Newcomer Training program in 2016, where participants envisioned a vibrant, energetic, overnight summer camp where they could celebrate Filipino culture, build self-confidence, and be empowered to become leaders. Geordan Arenal, teacher and a board member of Sariling Gawa Youth Council, was brought in as a program facilitator, directly mentoring Batac and 30 Filipino newcomer youth from across Toronto. This collaboration inspired Batac to bring a youth participant, Gino Amboang, to attend SG in 2017, with KMC staff Flordeliz Dandal and Amelia Basingan, funded by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation through the RECODE at Ryerson Project.

Later that summer, Batac and Amboang headed to KAMP in Vancouver alongside SG program member, Patrick de la Cruz, further deepening the links between the programs. With this unprecedented international network in place, six Toronto youth are now on the cusp of bringing the Ontario Filipino youth camp to life.

In early 2018, Batac assembled a new group of six Toronto-based Filipino youth – leaders from the Filipino Students’ Associations at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, and York University, as well as Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture, BABAE Theatre Collective, and KMC.

Hilary Naluz (FSAT)

This March 23-25, 2018, this second delegation will travel to Hawaii to attend SG and incubate a pilot version of this conference tailored for Ontario youth. They will stay additional days to learn from and with the SG community. The delegation recognizes SG as a unique and successful model of leadership training for youth of Philippine descent, and will bring this knowledge back to Ontario so that they can lead the way towards a stronger, louder, and more powerful next generation of Filipino-Canadian leaders here.

When asked to talk about the strengths of this particular delegation, they shared:

“Our community is strong in numbers with close to 300,000 Filipinos in the Greater Toronto Area – and our group is among those leading the youth generation to innovate the ways we proudly celebrate our Filipino roots.

We are a dynamic group of young Filipino/a/x trailblazers. We are dreamers, builders, initiators, community cultivators, and collectively, a catalyst for change. We put community first and we are working together to strengthen Filipino-Canadian identity and futures at schools, universities, in arts and culture, mainstream media, governance and more.”

The delegation has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs of the flights, registration, accommodations, and a donation to SG. With a goal of $8,500, the delegation is prioritizing students who will be eligible to work with KMC this summer to lead the planning of the Ontario summer camp.

Maria Taquero (Kapisanan)

The delegation includes:

• Hilary Naluz (20) — third-year student in History, Equity & English Studies; member of the Filipino Advisory Committee at the Toronto Catholic School District Board; BABAE member; leader with Filipino Students’ Association at the University of Toronto

• Maria Taquero (22) — fifth-year student in Social Work at Ryerson; emerging artist and production intern at Pineapple Lab for Fringe Manila 2018; Kapisanan placement student; representative to the Filipino Youth Roundtable discussion with MP Gary Anandasangaree

• Kristian Pacpaco (23) — fifth-year student in Chemical Engineering; leader with the Filipino Canadian Association of Ryerson, Ryerson University Chemical Engineering Course Union, Ryerson Engineering Student Society

• Karla Villanueva Danan (25) — B.A. International Relations; delegate to United Nations’ 62nd Commission on the Status of Women in New York with YWCA Canada (2018); Chair, Board of Directors for Kapisanan

For more information and to make a donation, visit the GoFundMe page at: www.gofundme.com/TorontoSG2018 or contact Karla at kmvdanan@gmail.com or 647-968-8770.