Days 5, 6, and 7: The Lumad

My goodness, what a whirlwind these last few days have been! I have no idea how I'll be able to express all that we've seen and done, but I'll do my best. 

First of all, who are the Lumad? The Lumad are the indigenous people (IP) in the southern region of the Philippines (Mindanao). There are 2.1 million Lumad in the Mindanao region, and 18 different tribes. These people have struggled so much in the last few decades. Mindanao is very resource-rich, and unfortunately, everybody knows it. Thousands of hectares of land in Mindanao were owned, tilled, and lived in by the Lumad until the Philippine elite & foreign companies (Dole, Delmonte) figured out how profitable the land could be. There is a perpetual plunder of resources; whether it be by landgrabbing, illegal mining, or not allowing the Lumad to till the land that is rightfully theirs. 

What is especially unfortunate for the Lumad is that this land is their ancestral domain. This means that not only is this land historical for them, it is also spiritual. Many still practice their traditional indigenous religious that is completely based in the nature & land surrounding. How are they to worship without it? One of the leaders of the PALM (People's Alliance of the Lumad in Mindanao) shared with us that," [our] wants are basic. This mining corporation is not for us- it's a plunder of our ancestral lands. It leads us to nothing- we are displaced in our community, lands- so what will come of our children? Our future generations?" Thousands of Lumad have been pushed out of this land that their ancestors have lived on for centuries. There are currently 393 Lumad in an evacuation center where we're staying. They stay here because if they return home, there is a threat of being killed by a paramilitary group defending the corporations and investors that have commondeered their land. 

Evacuation center at Haran housing nearly 400 refugees. There used to be 800 but many returned home. Those that remain are afraid of being killed if they return. 

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Yesterday morning, we left to spend a day and night in the community of the Bagobo tribe in Kahusayan- a couple hours outside the city of Davao. It was a challenging trip in more ways than one. The drive up there was gorgeous, but when we got to what seemed like the tip-top of a mountain, there was a large fence and we got out and *literally* walked through the jungle for about 20 minutes to get the village. 

Driving to Kahusayan! L to R, Sebastian, Rachel, Abby, Kerry (our teacher!), Hazel, Theo, Asefa. 

Oh just casual jungle-hiking in the mud!

Wait, let's go back a minute. Why was there a fence?! Okay so BRIEF story time in which I will do my best to make a complicated and truly awful story as short & accurate as possible. 

Basically, there's a church (read: cult) that is taking all the land. Reverend Apollo Kiboloy says he is the son of God (I am not joking!!), so he got interested in the ancestral land of the Lumads. This man wanted to own ALL 1800 hectares of their land. Unfortunately, Kiboloy (henceforth known as VBM, Very Bad Man) has lots of influence with politicians, so he was able to use the Philippine army to destroy the village. VBM also tried to divide Lumad tribes against one another so that they had conflict with each other and not with him. In 2008, the military extracted the houses (they are bamboo & on stilts) and put them in the road. As if this wasn't enough, they burned entire villages & killed some villagers as well. Villagers woke up at midnight to banging on the door telling them to vacate because "we will use this place for Kiboloy's plan." They destroyed the farm of the people, killed the land & destroyed their homes. Every midnight they either arrested people or forced them out of their homes. 

Great guy, right? So remember how I said the Lumad have 1800 hectares of ancestral land? Well, we visited them...on the land they have left. All five hectares of it. Five. 5. FIVE. Can you tell I'm getting mad just talking about it? So, in addition to being a Horrible Person, not only did VBM take all their land, but he used it to make what he calls the garden of Eden. Remember? Cause he's Jesus? Y'all, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried. So naturally, as Jesus would do, VBM puts up a very large impenetrable fence around his garden of Eden. You know, like Hitler would do? Wait no, Jesus. Just like Jesus. Right. 

That is all the snark and talk about VBM I can handle before I drive myself back up the mountain and punch him in the face, so now I'll show you the bright side of the story. The AMAZING Lumad community we met! Everyone was so incredibly welcoming and loving, we truly had a deeply moving & inspiring 24 hours. 

Basketball court 

My first time trying the native coffee! It was lami kaayo- very delicious!

The kitchen in the home we stayed in. 

It rained for most of the afternoon, so naturally we played Uno and made a toddler-friend. 

Lunch! 

Tiny toddler-friend spent about 80 million hours filling up this cup with the rain coming off the tin roof and dumping it back out again. I couldn't pick a favorite of these pictures. 

Last toddler-friend pic, I promise!

When the rain finally stopped, we went on a VERY muddy walk around the village during which I ruined my shoes but at least met this precious baby.

Aforementioned muddy walk also happened to be very beautiful. 

Buuuuut then I fell flat on my ass in a big pile of mud. 😂 Whoops. Totally worth it though! 

After dinner, we met with the community for a cultural sharing in which they told us about the plight of their people and their land and we sang them an Adele song. {which of these things is not like the other?} Regardless, it was deeply moving and encouraging for all of us. 

We spent the night on the floor of this beautiful home, which you might guess was mildly uncomfortable. You might not guess, though, that it was FREEZING cold. We were in the mountains and apparently it's negative twelve degrees there. Brr. I can assure you we will all sleep VERY well tonight. 

Walking back down the very muddy and aptly called "treacherous" path down to the motorcycles. 

Okay, I have to stop my photo dump here for a minute to talk about our motorcycle ride. After a long, pretty gross, very muddy hike down the hill, we climbed on the back of some motorcycles to go the rest of the way down the mountain. For those of you who kept up with my blog & fb during my YAV year in the Philippines, you might know how much I love motorcycle rides in the Phils. If not, you're about to. 

Riding down this gorgeous mountain on the back of a motorcycle, speaking my (very limited) Bisaya to the two men in front of me, and watching my American (and Ethiopian) friends ride along beside me was the highlight of this trip so far for me. I felt so at home (as I always do) in this country, doing as the Filipinos do. The landscape was utterly beautiful, and as I happy-cried going 45 mph down the side of a mountain, for the life of me I couldn't remember why I ever left this place. 

I don't know how or when or why, but the Philippines stole my heart a long time ago and it is very clear they have no intention of giving it back. 

[The cry-count is 20. Just wait til I go home to Dumaguete.]

Oh yeah and I also finally got to have my favorite sweet Filipino snack- an ensaymada. When Rachel asked me what it was, I had to be honest. "Umm, bread, butter, and sugar." What's not to like? 

Until next time. 

Oh, and roll tide, y'all.