Il Viaggio Continua July 2014

8/10/2019 Il Viaggio Continua July 2014

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orn free??? Who can claim that?

The tribal remembers that since time immemorial

they experienced a kind of freedom as children of MotherNature, the freedom of the mountains and forests and

valleys as they were created by theCreator of all. When their territories

ere invaded by the settlers, theyelcomed them. The settlers claimed

to know more, to be more educated,they had tools and weapons andmoney, etc. They said they wouldteach the ignorant natives

Eventually, the IP discovered that

hile they were taught differentthings by the settlers, they werequickly losing their lands and culture,because the settlers knew so much,some knew how to take advantage ofthem. Some natives tried to becomelike the settlers, they forgot their wayof life, even their basic rights andfreedom. But other natives beganasking, Are we really ignorant?

Ashamed of our cultures and our ancestors? Or can welearn something from the settlers, but without losing ourculture and identity? Can we also share our kind ofeducation and our values?

Some friendly visitors were also curious; they tried to learnfrom the natives their language, traditions, their strugglesand stories Thats how IP Education started in sometribal communities. Then the visitors learned about thedeeper analysis of Paolo Freire in his Pedagogy of theOppressed. Not only the natives, but all sectors of theoppressed masses began discovering their alternativeeducation or liberating education. Not only the educationcoming from the educated class of the Oppressors, butfrom the experience of generations of oppressed people

ho understand the world and everything that is happeningfrom the other side of the system.

History is usually written by the Victors, what about thehistory of the losers? It can not be found in the books

hich reflect the views of the dominant class, but there isanother side of history and the progress of people seekingjustice and peace and freedom while being ignored by the

oppressors as victims of the culture of silence. Can we frthe dominant education system and the media from theone-sided bias? Can we empower the oppressed to bre

through the blinders of the culture of silence and expretheir alternative views?

We can start again from the simppeople like children and tribals natives. In the past there we

various attempts like the one Paolo Freire, undercurrents awareness that developed througthe history of humankind reflectinthe views of the oppressed. Like tBible stories, the story of Moses anthe Prophets, the story of Jesus whsounded the cry and the good newof many who continue to be crucifibut come back to life again in thawareness of movements for socliberation

Our Tribal Organizations and thPops Foundation, with the help

sympathetic visitors and supporters, as of now hadeveloped a network of over a hundred schools, an

teachers with over 2000 pupils in the most remote arehere the dominant education system can not prevent thalternative kind of education. It is exciting to discovernew kind of education from people who are still free to sthe world from their context or experience, history anculture.

Can we sustain this movement of liberating education???

- Fr. Peter Geremia, PIM

#Education either functions as an

instrument which is used to facilitate

integration of the younger generationinto the logic of the present system and

bring about conformity or it becomes

the practice of freedom, the means by

which men and women deal criticallyand creatively with reality and

discover how to participate in thetransformation of their world.$

!Paulo Freire,Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Liberating ducation

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now know thewisdom of the

Teachers Ethicstaught to us in school;that of never eating or drinking infront of ones students, Sir Ronie,the Grade School administrator ofthe Salugpungan schools said wryly.He added, Because I used to bring

water in a travel mug to school.Then I noticed that whenever Iwould take a sip, I could see mystudents eyes look longingly at themug and see them gulp along with

me. They probably thought that Iwas drinking coffee, a luxury thatthey rarely get to have.

Hunger for food contending withhunger for education is never morepronounced than in areas ofextreme poverty like Arakan and

Talaingod. Children go to schooloftentimes hungry but determinedto learn. However, hunger for foodoften wins out in the end. The

children, too, feel the pressure of thehunger for food of their younger

siblings and to help their parents outin the fields. No matter howsupportive the parents are, these arethe stark realities that childrencontend with on a day-to-day basis.

This is why absenteeism anddropping out is rampant in theseareas. This is very true especiallyduring the lean months. The positivething though, is that they will almostalways come back and do their bestto catch up with their studies. When

harvest time comes, they come backto school full and happily share theirproduce with their beloved teachers.

This dilemma was always in theforefront of Fr. Pops thoughts. Inthe past, he would start feedingprograms for the communities withthe most need. Then at the sametime, he started the school farmssystem, wherein the students,teachers, and community members

help out in establishing a farmwithin the school grounds, the

proceeds of which go back to theschool to feed the children andthe teachers. It was also anopportunity for the children andthe community to learn abousustainable farming: fromestablishing nurseries to the careand harvest of crops. Someschools have already enjoyed thefruits of this dream. But there isstill a long, long way to go andmany, many more things to do

before this is fulfilled for all thechildren.

(Mr. Ronie Garcia hasbeen teaching at the

Salugpungan Ta Tanu

Igkanugon CommunityLearning Center for 8 years now. He i

from the Mansaka tribe in CompostelaValley. He was also a lumad scholar and

is now committed to helping his fellowlumads achieve the dream of education.)

Education and Hunger

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Continuing the Journey

Together

Theres no better way to

honor a good man than to

continue his good works

hrough the years, Fr. Popswould be known for hiswork in education in the

lumad areas of the Diocese ofKidapawan: how he started with adultliteracy schools then catch-up schools

for school-aged children (to preparethem to enter mainstream schools), andthe early childhood education centers.

He started with the Tribal FilipinoProgram of the Diocese. Then he wasassigned in Arkan. In 1991, heestablished the Tri-Farmers Program forCommunity Development, Incorporated orTFPCDI(then the Tribal Filipino Program

for Community Development, Inc)and set upmore than 50 preschools in the areas

covered by Arakan parish. By the early2000s, he was also made SchoolDirector of the Notre Dame of ArakanSchool.

It was inevitable then that he would getinvited to share his experiences andexpertise with other organizations thatwere venturing to render services ineducation especially in lumad areas. Atfirst, he sent his staff to attend to theserequests, bringing with them theirteaching materials, to train the staff of

these organizations. Eventually, hehimself got invited to join theseorganizations and because he metkindred spirits and agreed with theirideals, he joined them.

In 2003, he joined the RuralMissionaries of the Philippines (RMP)and eventually became one of theCoordinating Board members, dealingwith lumad education and life as a

Catholic missionary. The RMP led himto Talaingod, to the land of the Ata-Manobo, one of the poorest tribes inthe Philippines. Here, he helped set upthe Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon (Unity

for the Ancestral Land) Community LearningCenter. The STTICLC, which startedout as a literacy school in Dulyan,Talaingod in 2005, became a preschooland through the years, by adding onelevel a year, became a complete

elementary school by 2012.

In 2005, too, he was invited by theMindanao Interfaith Services Foundation,Incorporated (MISFI) and eventuallybecame a member of its Board ofTrustees. One of MISFIs thrusts, too,concerned education. They started outwith preschools that espoused love ofGod and humankind, regardless ofreligion, and had schools in Muslim,lumad, and Christian areas.

He was indispensable to theseorganizations: he was constantly thesource of advice, inspiration andoftentimes, he would be the one torepresent them when facing bigagencies.

In 2009, he had this idea of aconsortium of different organizationsthat will provide education to thelumad communities in the region. Hesaid that each organization had their

own objectives, covered areas,experiences and resources and that theycan come together, coordinate andmake a unified plan for the entireregion, and contribute what each cancontribute.

The effect of his murder wouldreverberate throughout the lumadworld of Mindanao. The anguish wasfelt in the remotest communities of

Davao region and beyond. It was nosurprise then that more than 15,000came to his burial. These were justhe people who were able to gatherenough resources for transportationto get to Kidapawan. But for thoseleft in the mountains, their grief wasno less painful. They were glued to

the radio, listening to the coverageof the funeral, most of themadmitting to weeping and gnashingtheir teeth in sorrow and anger awhat happened to their beloved FrPops.

It would take a couple of monthsbefore the consortium couldregroup and cry together. It did notake long, however, for them to vow

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Typhoon Agaton opened 2014,prompting the Foundation toimmediately launch relief and medical

missions to the affected areas. Sadly,most of the areas hit were stillrecovering from the damage wroughtby Typhoon Pablo. The Foundationwith the assistance of PIMEPhilippines distributed relief packs to1,942 families and served 129 patients.

At the end of February, the Foundationwent back to Leyte and Samar torender relief, medical/surgical/dental,psychosocial, and initial rehabilitationservices to the Typhoon Yolandasurvivors. La Paz town in Leyte andBorongan in Samar were the areaschosen for the services. Relief packswere given to 2,702 families. Themedical/dental/surgical teams served atotal of 893 patients. The psychosocialintervention volunteers processed 605schoolchildren. Two thousand sets oftools and vegetable seeds were alsogiven to the farmers of La Paz whomthe volunteers assisted in clearing apiece of land and starting a vegetable

garden.

March was Graduations and Moving-ups time. The staff went to the variousschools supported by the Foundationduring their ceremonies. By the end ofMarch, a big military operation waslaunched in Talaingod, Davao delNorte, and the Ata-Manobo peopleevacuated to Davao and stayed at theevacuation center for a month. Beingone of the Foundations priorities, the

staff went on full-time duty at theevacuation center. The evacuationlasted for a month. While there, theyattended to 1,200 patients, with 10referred to the hospital.

In May, a measles outbreak occurred inTalaingod. Again, Foundation staffresponded by sending a team to assistthe communities and their healthworkers against this deadly disease.

Around 200 patients sought treatmentat the 3 community health stations setup by the Foundation. Despite the

mass immunizations done still around40 had the clinical signs of measles.Of these, 16 were referred to thehospital and 9 died.

March to May was also the occasionfor the summer medical missions inNorth Cotabato, including Arakan.The summer missions served 1,986patients.

Several CHW trainings were alsolaunched in the different priority

communities. To date, the Foundationhas trained 207 CHWs in the variouslevels. The highest level so far reachedis Level 3 of the 6 levels. Medicalmissions were held after the trainingsto serve as the practicum of theCHWs. These medical missionsserved 6 communities and around 500patients.

In the meantime, the efforts ofestablishing primary health care

programs in the priority communitiescontinued. From the original 6community clinics in Arakan, 3 more

clinics were put up in TalaingodThese clinics served as the loci ofhealth services for the communitiesaround them. Community healthworkers (CHWs) manned these clinicson a duty basis. These CHWs are alvolunteers, giving time to renderservices to their neighbors. At thisstage, Foundation staff are closelymonitoring and supervising theCHWs knowledge and skills inrendering medical services.

Among the other services rendered bythe CHWs is weight and heightmonitoring of all the children in theirrespective communities and bloodpressure monitoring for patients whoneed these. The CHWs also givehealth classes to community membersespecially to the mothers. The CHWsalso maintain a herbal garden fromwhich herbal medicines can becollected and used for commonailments.

Primary Health Care Updates

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Sustainable

Agriculture

Updates

In nature health is the default. Most of the time pests and disease arejust natures way of telling the farmer hes doing something wrong.

- A farmer on sustainable agriculture

In Arakan, a massive sustainable agriculture campaign was launched in thelumad and nonlumad communities in coordination with the MunicipalAgriculturist Office. The first 6 months of the year was devoted to

widespread consultations and reorientations about sustainable agriculture.Thirty-five communities actively participated in these orientations. By June,the first trainings on sustainable agriculture were held. A total of 1,415farmers participated in these trainings. The trainings covered NurseryPreparation and Production of Organic Fertilizers. These trainings willcontinue for the next 3 years.

In the schools, aside from the school farms, sustainable agriculture is made apart of the school curriculum so that when the students go back to theircommunities, they already have the knowledge and skills to set up and toteach their people and communities.

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Il Viaggio Continua July 2014

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