Monday, June 6, 2011

...the Fil-Dutch youth passion

Fil-Dutch youth form SK Holland

06/06/2011

In an effort to unite the youth of the Filipino-Dutch community, 5 young Fil-Dutch established the Sangguniang Kabataan Holland, named after the youth federations in the Philippines.

SK Holland aims to reach out to the young Fil-Dutch crowd and encourage them to be active in the community. They are guided by the Kalayaan Fiesta Foundation Netherlands (KFFN), which also organizes the Independence Day celebrations ni Holland.

The organization was originally formed 2 years ago as a think-thank committee to help KFFN organize activities for the youth.

“Our main goal is to attract young people to be more involved,” says Rodenor Estimada, SK Holland coordinator.

KFFN-SK Holland’s main project is to involve the Fil-Dutch youth in the celebration of the Philippine Independence Day and to inculcate in them the history and significance of the celebration.

“We noticed that there are a lot of young Filipinos walking around here, maybe a lot of them don’t even know the true story of Independence Day,” Estimada said.

“We also try to inform them about the Philippine history via our website that. (We also) ecncourage the young Filipino to come and celebrate not only here as visitors but also as part of the organizations,” he continued.

This year, KFFN-SK Holland led an interactive talent show competition for the youth until 35 years old. Participants were encouraged to make a video of their performances and upload it to their website through YouTube, where families and friends can vote.

The 5 entries with the most votes will perform at the Independence Day celebration on June 11 in Amsterdam, where the winner will be judged.

“It all started with us thinking how we an involve the youth with Independence Day,” said Bryan Mendean, KFFN-SK Holland member. He added that until that point, Independence Day had been celebrated only by the older generation.

“What Filipino people got in common all over the world is that they like to peform, they like to sing, they like to dance... and they also like to put themselves on the Internet. So we thought, OK, let’s do something with that,” he added.

Both young men hope that through this competition, Fil-Dutch youth will interact and get to know each other and help preserve the Filipino culture in Netherlands.

The organization is also planning to hold a basketball tournament this summer.

They also hope that more young people will join SK Holland.

“We’re trying to expand as much as possible so we can have a community of younger Filipinos. We thought that it’s a good idea to have the younger generation gathered together, give them a source for connecting with each other,” Estimada said.

For more information about SK Holland and its projects, visit www.kffn-sk.com.

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