Dubai: For more than three hours yesterday, Christmas cheer, Filipino songs and laughter resonated in a shelter for distressed Filipinos in Al Ghusais.
Around 65 Filipinos, who are under the care of the Filipino Workers Resource Centre (FWRC), a halfway house for distressed Filipinos, experienced the joy of the yuletide season with the Filipino Community for the Pasko sa Piling Nila (Christmas with Them).
FWRC is under the supervision of the Philippine Overseas Labour Office in cooperation with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, an agency under the Philippine Department of Labour and Employment.
"It has been a tradition for the Filipino community to celebrate Christmas with our compatriots here in the shelter," Alan Bacason, president of the Filipino Community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates (Filcom-DNE), told Gulf News. "This is very significant in the sense that the ladies here are given the venue to celebrate the joys of the Christmas season."
Filcom-DNE gave the ladies a chance to showcase their talents through an on-the-spot singing contest. Talented dancers among the group also took centre stage. "They willingly performed before us right there and then. For the previous Christmas celebrations, it was Filcom-DNE that entertained the ladies from the shelter, now it's the other way around. The ladies really took the spotlight and gave us pure entertainment," Matilyn Bagunu, vice president of Filcom-DNE, said.
Various prizes were awarded to the winners such as a plane ticket to the Philippines, cash, and other consolation prizes.
Traditional Filipino cuisine was served to resemble the noche buena, a Filipino custom of sharing a feast with the whole family when the clock strikes midnight on Christmas day.
Various Filipino groups also brought gifts including groceries, toiletries, and beauty products for the distressed Filipinos.
