Pinoy kids perform at Smithsonian folk life festival in US

Young Filipinos from the Rehoboth Children's Home in Camiling, Tarlac represented the Philippines in the annual Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in Washington D.C. in the United States. In a news release on Thursday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said "The two-week international exposition at the National Mall features diverse living cultural heritage and attracts at least one million people." The festival ran until July 11. The DFA added the Rehoboth residents performed the Filipino dance "Tinikling," taught guests to cook Filipino food like adobo and pancit, and played Filipino games like tumbang preso. A profile of the Rehoboth Children's Home Dance Team on the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival website said the team had won awards in Luzon for its renditions of the Tinikling. "The dancers reside at Rehoboth, a center for abandoned, neglected, or orphaned youth where dance and other creative outlets help residents develop into well-rounded adults," it said. It added US Peace Corps volunteers Leah and Tom Ferrebee collaborate with Rehoboth staff on youth development projects that prepare residents for independent living. "The Rehoboth Children’s Home dancers have been looking forward to flying on an airplane for the first time and sharing their award-winning dance with this year’s Festival participants," the event website said. According to the DFA, the Philippine troupe was part of the Peace Corps segment of the festival. The Peace Corps marks its 50th anniversary this year. It said the Rehoboth residents were accompanied to the U.S. by Rehoboth Children's Home Executive Director Amelia Tuquero and the Ferrebees. Last June 8, the troupe called on Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Cuisia Jr. "The Peace Corps program contributes in the strengthening of relations not just between two countries but between peoples as well," the DFA news release quoted Cuisia as saying. The Philippines is one of the first countries that hosted Peace Corps volunteers in 1961. More than 8,000 Americans have served in the country as Peace Corps volunteers in the past 50 years, the DFA said. - VVP, GMA News