An indigenous community in Kalinga gets help from the most unlikely people -- at the right time.

It all began with a grueling 22-hour backpacking adventure in the Cordilleras for Australian tourist Tim Andrews. His travels brought him to an indigenous village in Tinglayan, Kalinga province where he spent the night with one of the Ichananaw families.

Fascinated with the place and its people, Andrews went back, this time with friend Edwyn Cameron. The discovery of this paradise also enticed Edwyn’s wife Maria to join them on yet another trip. The couple who stayed in the country on a study and professional volunteer program, found themselves smitten with the people and the rich culture.

“It’s the friendships that came first, and then the partnership. The community was open, warm and hospitable,” shares 26-year-old Maria from Melbourne.

INDIGENIZING EDUCATION

Maria then studied the local language, in the process endearing herself to the Ichananaw children and elders who asked for her help to preserve their culture. Some 6,700 members of the Ichananaw tribe live in the remote community in Barangay Dananao in Kalinga, accessible only via a three-hour hike. Farming is their source of livelihood.

“The elder Fargwog Aga-id, a teacher, asked us to stay for one year and help document their traditions to pass on to future generations. But we only had five months to spare so we compromised on getting it all done within that period,” recalls Maria, a research fellow at the Philippines Australia Studies Centre in La Trobe University in Australia and a volunteer at the Ateneo Center for Educational
Development (ACED).

She was also approached by Arlene Dawing, principal of the Dananao Elementary School (DES) to help their school avail of educational materials through ACED. “We have only four teachers to cater to 160 pupils.

We have seven classes but only five makeshift classrooms. We only have a few textbooks so the teachers are the ones holding the book and reading aloud to their students,” laments Dawing.

She says most children only finish elementary. Those who go to high school and college support themselves by working as house helpers in nearby towns.

Apart from having a poor quality of education due to a mismatch between the indigenous students’ way of life versus the teaching and learning tools available, the IPs cultural heritage is also in danger of becoming extinct. There is no comprehensive documentation of their culture, language, traditional political system and history.

With the ACED project, it is expected that teaching and learning will be more interesting and aid in the preservation of their heritage. The project is also being supported by AusAID through its Volunteers for International Development from Australia (VIDA), La Trobe University through the Philippine-Australia Studies Centre (PASC), and UP Baguio via the Cordillera Studies Center (CSC).

Some 21 books were published through the help of AusAID including short story books for children (with Ichananaw, Tagalog and English translations and illustrated by Ang I.N.K artists) books of songs and history, an Ichananaw dictionary, and a coffee-table book with photographs taken by the Cameron couple.

ENSURING A FUTURE

Before returning to Australia, Maria turned over the management of the project to ACED to make it sustainable and ensure the future of the young IPs in Kalinga.

Carmela Oracion, assistant to the president for Basic Education of Ateneo de Manila University reveals that long-term plans are being set for the project which includes teacher training and performance monitoring.

“We are also helping empower the principal on what steps to take to improve performance of the children and then eventually help them with access to high school. Most of the children are very gifted so we really like to provide them a good future by sending them to different high schools or maybe to Baguio for higher learning,” she explains.

However, the ongoing project is now being threatened by a major obstacle.

Dawing, who has been teaching at DES since 1993, was transferred to another school. The community even made a petition for Dawing’s retention -- but to no avail.

“The school is lost now because she’s not actually assigned in the school of her tribe. The project was also largely undertaken with her help so it is just right for her to be there to manage its full implementation,” Maria points out.

By this time, Maria and Edwyn Cameron have already returned to Melbourne, living their lives as government employee and a doctorate student respectively. But in a few years, they intend to come back, hopefully with children in tow, to Kalinga where they found their greatest fulfillment.

“It’s very rewarding to see that the people are happy with what we’ve done. I’m happy to have made wonderful friends there. I will miss the people, the hiking, the simple food of rice and eating with my hands, the coffee and conversations that go with the meal, and the language. We plan to return and raise our children there as well because the children in Kalinga have a very strong spirit. They know how to play and really enjoy but they are also very responsible and work hard to help their family,” says Maria.

She hopes that through the project, the Ichananaws will be able to continue engaging themselves with the “outside world” for genuine self determination and development but at the same time, still be the ones to decide the development they want for their community.

The formal turnover of instructional materials to the Ichananaw tribe was held last Friday at the Australian Embassy during its celebration of NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islander Day Observance Committee) Week. The event, led by Australian Embassy Charge d’ Affaires Steve Scott included activities featuring Australia’s rich and diverse indigenous heritage.

The Embassy has been helping preserve indigenous culture in the Philippines through its Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) program which benefited more than 34,000 students and 800 teachers. Since 2006, its Direct Aid Program (DAP) has also provided P3 million funds to programs that contribute to the welfare and income-generating capacity of the IPs.