A Philippines - India Cultural Exchange for the Wizkids Winners!

From April 28 to May 4, 2007, the four Winners of the Wizkids event’s final contest – Anupama Kumar [1], Kislay Kishan [2], Deepika Easwaran [3] and Mani Sudhir Selvaraj [4] – went to the Philippines along with managers of The Activity – Syed Sultan Ahmed, Naina Suresh and Jamakhandimath –, and three members of the Indian Charter Facilitation Team – Sudha Reddy, Anugraha John, and Deepa Alige Guru.

The prize of the final contest was indeed a trip to the Philippines hosted by the Charter Facilitation Team in the Philippines. The Activity has partnered with the Indian Charter Facilitation Team in the project and has adopted the Charter of Human Responsibilities as a foundation of the academic contest. In the final selection process, the 50 finalists were asked to reflect on the Charter, and the result was an Indian Children’s Charter.

The program of the trip was organized by the Philippine Charter Team. It includes:

 a trip to an indigenous community of the Aetas in Zambales (Aetas are the first group of people to migrate to the Philippines during the time of the land bridges across Asia),
 visits to urban poor community organizations,
 visit to picturesque Tagaytay mountains overlooking a lake and volcano,
 discussions about the Philippine situation, cultural exchange with students,
 radio interviews,
 visit to the old Spanish fort city of Intramuros in the heart of Manila.

Members of the Philippine Charter Team Aleli Bawagan, Flora Santos, Merlyn Martinez, Cowa Gratuito, Marilou Cerilla and Pinky Cupino prepared a Welcome Dinner and Program wherein Indian and Philippine cuisine shall be served and where cultural presentations can be shown to kick-off the Philippines-India Cultural Exchange.

To read more about this cultural trip:

 Indian Youth in the Philippines : Shared Reflections on Selected Experiences
 A ’Brief report on the exposure to Aeta community’, by Aleli Bawagan, that you can download here below:

Brief report