Camping trips bring expats together

THE Bendigo Filipino Foundation will be holding an event later this month with the aim of rising money to buy equipment for their group Pinoy Campers.

The camping group aims to help migrants arriving from the Philippines to find a sense of community and with more than 50 members has grown over the past several months.

Bendigo Filipino Foundation president Maria Gillies said most of the group are males who arrive without their families to work under sponsorship by Bendigo businesses.

“The Pinoy Campers are the guys who help them learn more about Australia and make them feel at home and like they belong to something,” said Ms Gillies.

The group has a unique activity for making new members of the community feel welcome; engaging in what they call bush karaoke on their camping trips in Central Victoria.

“We kind of promote the camping especially here in Bendigo, so we tie up with a lot of Filipinos also in different areas in Central Victoria,” Ms Gillies said.

“We buy a lot of tents, and last time we did a fundraiser for them we bought a generator because one of the things as Filipinos we love doing is karaoke, and now it’s evolved into bush karaoke.

“I call it bush karaoke because they are out there in the camping areas and will bring a TV and speakers and the generator and do bush karaoke…That’s our thing.”

“It’s just something that we can hang around there and just chat and have fun. It’s so unique and it’s so Filipino.”

Ms Gillies said the camping trips used to be done quarterly but have recently increased to once a month due to their popularity.

“Because of the demand, people love it,” she said. “If they want to have fun and do bush karaoke with us, they don’t have to be Filipino,” she said.

The sausage sizzle fundraiser will be on Sunday 23 July at Bunnings Bendigo, and you can visit bit.ly/3PXVL91 for more information about the event and the Pinoy Campers.