Smithsonian Folklife Festival, here we come...

Our Philippines group, made up of eight tinikling youth dancers, two staff, two U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, and one Brittish volunteer, were selected among thousands of nomininations to participate in the 2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall in Washington DC on June 30-July 4 and July 7-11.

Peace Corps will be one of three featured programs at the Festival-The Peace Corps: Fifty Years of Promoting World Peace and Friendship.

The program will bring together Peace Corps Volunteers—both past and present—and many of the local people with whom they have served. Over a dozen countries will be represented at the festival.  The highlights of the Philippines team include:

• Daily Tinikling performances - Tinikling is the National Dance of the Philippines

• Presentations of Filipino food and cooking traditions that have played an important role in the Peace Corps experience
  
  
• Sharing traditional chidren's games with visitors in the Kids Corps tent
  
  
• Modeling an English language classroom lesson tought by a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer and Filipino counterpart in order to help increase public understanding of the work of volunteers and host country counterparts

• Talking to curious visitors while also learning from visitors and participants
  
  
• The festival  Marketplace will feature handmade items for sale including earrings, bags, aprons and cards made by our center in the Philippines 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Additional information about the festival can be found here: www.festival.si.edu or www.peacecorps.gov/50

We have been preparing for the festival since December 2010.  In a couple of weeks, we will finally take flight for Washington DC! Stay tuned to read about the many ways we have prepared for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.