Determined to fill the gap, mum creates a book to teach the Filipino alphabet while celebrating the culture

This mother remains committed to celebrating her culture through the power of children's literature.

SBS Filipino

View Podcast Series

Get the SBS Audio app

Other ways to listen

One mother's quest to preserve her children's Filipino heritage led to the creation of a vibrant and engaging book.

KEY POINTS

Preserving the cultural heritage is a priority for many families, especially those with roots in multiple countries.
Frustrated by the lack of resources that resonated with her half Filipino children, she took matters into her own hands.
The book aims to nurture pride and belonging among Filipino children and their families.

For Perth mum, Vercess Caina, the creation of Filipino Food ABC is born out of a desire to introduce her Filipino-Taiwanese children to their heritage in a fun and engaging way.

Reflecting on her own experiences as a parent, she realised that existing resources often fell short, relying on traditional language and themes that didn't resonate with her children's everyday experiences.

“Throughout the years, I bought Filipino-English kids’ books so they can learn but I noticed that most of the language used were very traditional. I wanted them to learn something that’s easy to learn, using everyday language.”

Ms Caina shares that the Filipino Food ABC is born out of a desire to introduce her Filipino-Taiwanese children to their heritage in a fun and engaging way.

Frustrated by the lack of resources, she took matters into her own hands.

“I went to a few local libraries in Perth and found that the children’s Filipino books were under the “other” languages section while Mandarin, Japanese, Italian had its own category.”

Drawing on her background in Communications and Marketing, she immersed herself in the world of children's book writing, learning, and collaborating to bring her vision to life which resulted in a book that not only teaches the Filipino alphabet but also celebrates Filipino cuisine and culture.

“I just gave it a go. I took children’s book writing classes, joined children’s book writing groups and mentorship. I wrote the book, received feedback and reviews from my peers, got in touch with an illustrator and dived into self-publishing.”

By collaborating with an illustrator, she brought her words to life, creating vibrant and engaging visuals that captured the essence of Filipino cuisine.

Mum creates a book to teach the Filipino alphabet while celebrating the culture

Since its launch, the book has received overwhelming support and gained praise from the Filipino community worldwide. Partnering with local businesses, the book has reached families eager to connect with their heritage.

“This book is one of the few children’s books that I’ve published so far and seeing the support and feedback from the Filipino community in Australia and globally keeps me inspired.”

Beyond its success, Ms. Caina says the true value of the book lies in its ability to nurture pride and belonging among Filipino children and their families.

“The most important thing is it helps other Filipino kids and their families who either live abroad or born in countries outside of the Philippines to celebrate their culture and treasure their language through children’s books."

She takes pride in knowing that her book is making a difference, one page at a time.

'Usapang Parental' is SBS Filipino's segment on parenting. It features the stories of migrant families, parenting issues, raising kids, and parenting tips and advice from experts.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST