Two weeks after arriving in Davao City, Mindanao and I have finally posted on my new blog! I’ve always thought about putting together a blog for this or that but have really never committed to one. But so many people asked me to start one and asked for updates of my trip to the Philippines, so here I am -- my first entry of my first blog. As it is my first blog, I hope you don’t mind if it ends up being a little dull or less than exciting. I’m sure I’ll learn along the way as to how to make my blog “cool.” I will probably use this blog mostly for periodic updates about what is going on in my life in Davao, pictures, and probably a more serious reflection here and there as to what I am learning and discovering about the people here, my self, and my work.

Just to give everyone a little background, I am in Davao for a “field experience,” which is a part of my Master’s degree in International Peace Studies. I will be in Davao until December 18. As a part of this field experience I will be working at the peacebuilding NGO, Initiatives for International Dialogue (IID) (See iidnet.org). I will also be doing my own research, which as of right now I am hoping will focus on the place of ritual in grassroots interreligious dialogue efforts as a part of the overall peacebuilding process here in Mindanao.

If you aren’t aware, which I wasn’t until about a year ago, there has been conflict in Mindanao in the early 1970s (some say it dates even earlier, way back to the 16^th century when the Spanish arrived, but here people date the beginning of the current active conflict to when then-dictator Marcos imposed martial law in the Philippines). Throughout the 1900s indigenous people (composing 13 tribes here), both Moros (of Muslim religion) and Lumads were terribly marginalized, impoverished, and pushed off of their ancestral lands by, mostly, American policies. In the 1970s, when Marcos imposed martial law in the Philippines, justifying himself in part by citing unrest in Mindanao, IPs had had enough and fought back for autonomy and self-determination. Since then active fighting has settled and peace processes have been signed, but not by all actors. There are still violent clashes and much needs to be done in building a post-conflict sort of peace where justice is had and the marginalization of peoples is reversed as much as possible. That is a quite short and insufficient summary – go read some more about it!

Here is the part of the Philippines I live in:

Picture from: http://lumber.ph/map.php

Since I have been here my Ate Myla (a fellow ND classmate who lives here in Davao) has led myself and my other classmate and roommate, Chernor (he is working at another peacebuilding organization, CRS) through an Orientation. We talked about our fears and expectations of our experience here, we were given a tour of the highlights of Davao City, taken to a park and resort in the mountains to play, and learned a bit of the language, as well as, social and cultural expectations.

Here are a few pictures of our trip to Eden Nature Park and resort:

Chernor, Neemai (Ate Myla's daughter) and myself at Eden

Last weekend was my first weekend “free.” Chernor and I spent Friday night trying to find some place to go dancing, a task we failed at. But we did sit around at a comedy club for a while listening to amazing singers belt out at videoke. Eventually we were corralled to join. We sang “No Air” and it was pretty awful. But I think everyone enjoyed watching two foreigners make fools of themselves. Later that weekend we went to Ate Myla’s daughter’s birthday party. Neemai turned ten. She is such a sweetheart and Chernor and I both adore her. We struggled to get her a gift though – what do you get a ten year old girl! I think in the end we succeeded by buying her a lot of fun Disney paraphernalia, like a Hannah Montana bag and a High School Musical stationary set.

Here is Chernor and I with our party hats on!

On Sunday, we woke up super early to head to the beach. We left at 6:30am because low tide is around midday right now. Ate Cora said there is “no water” at low tide at the beach. I thought she was exaggerating, but she was not! I am glad we got there so early! The beach close to our house is apparently unsafe to swim in and not so friendly to foreigners so we headed over to Samal Island. A twenty minute (and $3) cab ride to the ferry and then a five minute (and $.30) ferry ride later we were at Paradise Island Park and Resort. At first we were pretty disappointed – the entire beach is covered by a roof! And no one lays in the sand, but sits at picnic tables! After some breakfast we headed over to stake a place out in the sand. Eight hours later, when we left, I was pretty happy with the place. With the roof, I didn’t have to worry about getting burnt or too hot. I was able to just lay in a reclining chair for hours and read. It was lovely! Here are a couple of pictures from the day:

So I think that catches everyone up! More posts soon!