For the whole of 2022, the Excelcare family are taking a tour around the world… All from the comfort of their own homes! In July, everyone embarked on a journey around the Philippines, discovering more about the culture and experiencing it for themselves.
The Excelcare World Cruise is a group-wide initiative led by Hospitality Lead, Andrew Seal. The cruise is designed to deliver culture and experiences from around the world to the people who live and work in our care homes. This month, the residents were taken on a virtual tour of The Philippines, with activities linked to their culture and traditions. Many of the homes went all out, with decorations, traditional outfits, and food.
Kristine, the Lifestyle Coordinator at Hunters Down Care Home in Huntingdon was born in and is originally from The Philippines, so she was excited to lead the session at the home. She began by educating everyone living at the home on the culture by showing them pictures and telling them interesting facts. They spoke about the official and unofficial national symbols of The Philippines, such as the National bird: The Philippine Eagle.
Many people at Hunters Down really enjoyed watching one of the traditional dances, known as ‘Tinikling’. Tinikling is a folk dance involving two people beating, tapping, and sliding bamboo poles on the ground and against each other in coordination with one of more dancers who step over and in between the poles in a dance. They also watched videos about different festivals that take place in the Philippines, while Kristine told them information about them. Everyone was in awe of all the different creative and colourful costumes.
Everybody’s favourite part, however, was getting to experience a popular Filipino activity: karaoke! Karaoke is an integral part of the culture, both as a normal pastime and as part of birthdays and celebrations. The people living at Hunters Down had a great time singing their hearts out to their favourite songs. Cath confidently performed ‘You are my sunshine’ for everyone, which encouraged so many other people to get up and sing to. There were a variety of tunes sung, from the likes of Vera Lynn to Abba. Some were hesitant to step up to the mic, but by the end of the activity you couldn’t get them to stop!
Of course, the experience would not have been complete without sampling some traditional foods! Everyone at Hunters Down enjoyed trying one of the country’s go to summer desserts ‘Halo-Halo’. Halo-Halo is a mix of ice, evaporated milk, sugar, coconut strings, ube and coconut jellies. Everyone loved the dessert and said that it would be perfect for the hot weather we keep having!
The Willows Care Home in Milton Keynes celebrated in a similar way and embraced the people living in the home in as much Filipino culture as possible. They held a dedicated ‘Filipino Day’, where team members dressed up in traditional outfits and served Filipino cuisine to everyone living at the home. Everybody had a great time and noted how immersive it felt.
The Excelcare World Cruise has been a roaring success across the group so far, with Janet from Hunters Down saying that she “finds it fascinating how cultures different.” We’re now over halfway through our cruise around the world and we look forward to sharing these last few months with you!
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