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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Pinoy Campers are the guys who help them learn more about Australia and make them feel at home and like they belong to something,\u201d said Ms Gillies.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d Ms Gillies said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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\u2019s evolved into bush karaoke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019s our thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just something that we can hang around there and just chat and have fun. It\u2019s so unique and it\u2019s so Filipino.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Gillies said the camping trips used to be done quarterly but have recently increased to once a month due to their popularity.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the demand, people love it,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they want to have fun and do bush karaoke with us, they don\u2019t have to be Filipino,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n