Reading in Cebu
While in Cebu I had two instances where people showed concern for my safety after mentioning my travel plans to Mindanao. My first thought was that there must not be many foreigner who travel to Mindanao and hearing me say that, that is the only reason why I’m here and not; the beaches, the snorkeling, the cultural sites or the food, must be even stranger. The first instance was when I was sharing a room at a hostel with two older women, the curiosity was mutual between the women and myself, and quite frankly having them there made feel safer, given that I had just landed in a new place and had not yet found the people I was supposed to meet. I found out that they were retired nurses, they were waiting for the storm to pass and for the boats to resume operations so they could go home. They asked me where I was from and what I was doing in the Philippines, I briefly explained the research I would be doing, and they instantly reacted with both surprise and concern when I mentioned Mindanao. For some reason I felt the need to ease their worries, like I would my mom, explaining that I was with my school and we were being guided into safe areas. I of course am a complete stranger to the area and only know what I have read, which should have been enough to instill a bit of fear in me but reading about a place has never really made it tangible for me, I need to see it and experience it. In retrospect I probably should have been more worried by their reaction but at this point I was flying high on the rush of travel and was full of blind optimism, something fear could not penetrate.
The second interaction happened with a waitress that worked at a resort; I was reading an article on the beach when she asked me if I was a writer, I explained that I was a student and was doing some research before I headed down to Mindanao. I got the same look of surprise and concern that the retired nurses gave me and then she said, “I don’t want to alarm you ma’am but they kill reporters in Mindanao”. Again I felt the need to ease her worries and gave her the same explanation as before, but also told her we would be staying in Davao, which was true but I choose to leave out the fact that we would be moving around the island. The waitress went on to tell me to be careful and to not stay in one place for too long, again this reaction should have set off some sort of alarm in my brain my it didn’t, I’m not sure if I’m desensitized or naïve, but I feel that there is no sense in fearing the unknown. Fear is a hindrance, I feel that is it will only keep you from doing.