Blog Entry #7
1/22/14
We’ve all dispersed to the four corners of Monterey (by way of very long flights spanning the globe), or at least we’re all currently in transit. I’ve stopped in Cebu for the night. Reverse culture is a problem, I would say, of the privileged and those that have the ability to leave and travel as easily as MIIS students do. Oddly enough, my culture shock began before I left the Philippines.
Cebu city is an entirely different world and although we’re an hour flight from Mindanao – of the handful of people I’ve spoken to while here, three are from Mindanao. Often times, when I get very excited to hear there from Mindanao – they’re confused as to why I went there in the first place. “Are you a journalist?” They ask. More often than not I’m vague in that response… students… interviews… community meetings…
Peace petals, a part of a school’s peace education curriculum.
Sunset over Cotabato City
Most left Mindanao in the early 90s and haven’t been back in sometime and whenever I ask them more about their thoughts on the insecurity or the BBL, I don’t elicit much of a reaction. I wonder if its because I’m a foreigner asking prying questions or because even Mindanao transplants aren’t fully aware of the goings-on of the BBL and other Mindanao news. I have a small sample size, I will fully recognize that.
The man that drove me to the airport was my most favorite conversation and I found myself back into the groove of asking him open questions in order to understand more of his life. He’s originally from Cagayan de Oro so I told him that we were also there and visited a community in the hills, “Wow” he responded “Didn’t you feel unsafe? The NPA are in that community”. I didn’t know exactly what to say. I continued to ask him questions: he didn’t know much about the BBL, but his father was a news anchor in Cagayan and had received many threats from politicians and other groups over the year. He had been in Cebu since 1993, beforehand he even tried his luck auditioning in Manila to travel to Japan and be a magician and entertainer. I asked him how he learned magic and he say “oh, my friend taught me”.
These details seem stupid and I know I’m asking these questions, trying to uncover something elusive, because that’s the most we’ve all been in during the past two weeks. I also think I’m trying very hard to grasp on to my last interactions here. Trying to maintain a connection with the Philippines, to etch it into my brain before I fly very far away. I’ve been here almost a month, but the impact of this trip will extend very far into the future.
What do you think of Cebu? I asked. “It has a lot more opportunities” he replied, “tourism, call centers. If you stay in Mindanao you have a much simpler life. And that’s good if you want a simple life.” I said goodbye to him at the airport, thanked him for his stories and headed into security. Trying not to romanticize, I felt it was apt to have him be the last story I hear. It’s a midway point from those we met in Mindanao to the people we’ll speak with about the Mindanao situation, violence and peace-building challenges back in Monterey. Now, it’s on to my 24 hour flight.