In preparation for our trip we were given many resources to get acquainted with Mindanao. I anticipated that I had to know everything before we got there in order to comprehend the conflict and Mindanao as a whole. Dr. Iyer emphasized the importance isn’t about knowing everything before you get there because we will learn so much once we are there. I didn’t fully understand her logic until we got there and I realized the value and abundance of information that you get on the ground. The value I see in that now is that if you over research a place you may build a bias toward a place before you visit. There is a great importance in all aspects of research but there is no better source then the people themselves with voices from all directions. Now that I have gone and am back and reading the media I am realizing how much media and reading up on a place can create a ‘single story’. The complexity of anyplace you travel to can never be told in a single story and there isn’t an unbiased perspective.
If I had formed an opinion based on the readings and video clips along with the media I would have missed so much. Yes the conflict in Mindanao is an ongoing battle but it’s not what fully defines Mindanao and its people. Mindanao is not a place crying for help; the people are not weak or ignorant. People know how to live with what they have. They value family and friendship, they are hospitable and hard working. The Peace zones and tri people should be an example for communities all over the world. The ‘Peace zones’ are examples of groups expanding outside their comforts with dialogue to understand one another’s culture in order to harmoniously live side by side.
Sensing all of this from my three week visit does not make it an absolute but I found that “until you visit a place and form your own opinions, your understanding only comes from what you were taught in school, read in books, or saw on media — which may or may not be true.”(unknown) The habit of seeing the world through the western perspective is challenged with travel, it can break up cultural phobias and ethnocentric perspectives. The gift of travel whether near or far is that you always come home knowing a little more about the world and yourself.