Ala came to the Philippines!

Ala is incredible! She flew all the way here from Boston and let me drag her all around Manila and beyond for 8 action packed days. 

I'll fill in more details later, but for now here are some pictures from her visit!

At Rizal Park in Manila- that's the Rizal Monument in the background!

Buying a young coconut (buko) in Manila

Ala made some bovine friends in Zambales

Day trip to Talisayen Cove, Zambales

Blissful after lunch in Sonya's Garden, Tagaytay

That crater behind her is an active volcano, Taal!

The whirlwind week ended with an incredible dinner over Manila Bay

Abra Conference, May 4-10

A farmer and his goats, Bangued, Abra

After getting back from Cordillera Day and having a few days to rest and re-pack, SIBAT headed north into the mountains again for a conference in Abra. 

In the province of Abra, SIBAT currently has 13 microhydro energy stations. They range in age from 1-20 years old, and serve communities as small as 13 households and as large as 150 households. For the first time, SIBAT held a conference to bring together community leaders from each of these project sites to share knowledge and plan for the future. 

SIBAT, pre-conference preparations

My role at the conference was concentrated in the 3 days leading up to the arrival of the guests, helping with the handout materials and audiovisual presentations. Once the conference began, everyone was speaking Ilocano which meant that Nathan couldn't be my translator, so I wasn't too involved beyond clicking through the slide shows.  I was really glad to have had the opportunity to join the team that went up early and be able to contribute something tangible to the event. As far as I could tell, it was a success! Communities met amongst themselves to discuss problems they'd been facing, and met with SIBAT to plan future upgrades and trainings. The event was supposed to culminate with a field visit to one of the communities that serves as a model for how to properly manage and operate a microhydro system. Unfortunately a prominent member of their community passed away during the conference so our presence would have been inappropriate.

Late night work session in the hotel before the guests arrived

No Filipino meeting would be complete without a solidarity night- these usually involve singing, be it karaoke or cultural chanting, drinking, and dancing. Representatives from each community delivered a speech in a singsong throaty style of chanting, played drums and demonstrated native dances. Some SIBAT engineers are from this part of the Philippines and joined in. I got a chance to demonstrate my newfound mastery of the Eagle Dance after all of my practice at Cordillera day. I still have a ways to go on my courtship dancing though- it's a dance where a man chases a woman in a circle to the beat of gongs, and at the end he catches her and they shake hands. I got elected for this twice, and I don't think saying no was an option. Unfortunately I don't speak any Ilocano, so I'm just hoping that I'm not now married to a microhydro system operator in Abra. 

Cordillera Day

The Cordillera is a mountainous region north of Manila that is largely inhabited by many tribes of indigenous people. Like indigenous people all over the globe, the people of the Cordillera are constantly struggling to maintain their ancestral land, resources and culture against transnational corporations and even their own country's government. 

The view from my tent!

This year was the 30th annual Cordillera Day. Representatives from different tribes, advocacy groups and countries attended to participate in workshops and cultural presentations. It was held in Kalinga, one of the 7 provinces of the Cordillera.

I was able to participate in a workshop on agriculture, and I learned a lot about the negative impact of international trade agreements on local farmers. For example, corn subsidies in the US make it cheaper for Filipinos in Manila to buy US imported corn than the corn grown by farmer's in their country. Pretty crazy! We also talked about the influx of toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers that are being pushed on small farmers by transnational corporations like Syngenta and Monsanto, and the devastating effect these have had on health, the environment and the economy. Talking about these issues in NGO conference rooms in Manila is one thing, but hearing the same concerns voiced directly from indigenous farmers is incredibly powerful. It was a great confirmation that the work SIBAT is doing related to sustainable agriculture is necessary and important.

The main event hall with multi-colored tarp roof
and bamboo benches

While the workshops were quite serious, Cordi day was also full of celebration of local culture. There was lots of dancing, some of which I attempted to take part in. Communities performed songs, plays and gave heartfelt speeches throughout the 3 day event.

We slept in tents in the most picturesque mountain-side conference location. In fact there were no permanent structures at the entire event- the main event space was a giant tent made of bamboo poles tied together with rope, covered with tarps. The bathrooms were also small bamboo structures with tarp walls and a hole in the ground. Sometimes there was running water but it was pretty unpredictable.

The one that got away

Cooking lunch for 1000

Each morning and at various times throughout the day everyone was jarred by the loud screaming of pigs being slaughtered for lunch and dinner. They probably killed 4 pigs every day to feed the hundreds of attendees, plus one water buffalo on the third day. The screaming of tortured pigs sounds a lot like children. I was really shaken by it, and even though it was a couple weeks ago I still keep hearing the screams. Creaky doors, whining dogs and crying babies have all caused me to look around in panic, thinking I was hearing another pig being killed. When you really look at pigs, they're so human like in their eyes. I was pretty elated when I found out that on the last day a pig was actually able to hide under a stage beside the kitchen, even though he'd been left with his legs bound to a bamboo pole.  Because it was dark when they went to kill him he could not be found. He probably didn't add too much time to his life, but to me it really demonstrates the fact that pigs are smart animals that have a will to live.

This stirs up a lot of internal debate for me because I can certainly acknowledge that not everyone is in a position to immediately stop killing animals for food. I know that in the Philippines, eating meat is a big part of celebrations and people's cultural identities. I'm not passing judgement on indigenous people for slaughtering pigs for this or other events. Still I feel that it is a practice that will one day be looked back on by humanity as barbaric and unnecessary in today's society.