My Trip to Zamboanga

I still haven't told you about my trip to Zamboanga, and it was a week and a half ago! I've been putting this post off because the trip was so rich and I did so much in such a short time that it has been hard for me to think how to boil this down into one post! I'm just going to go ahead and give it a try!

Just to give some background Zamboanga is located on the Western part of the island. Zamboanga has a bad reputation largely because it has been associated with being victimized by activities of Abu Sayyaf, an extremist organization associated with Al Qaeda that is headquartered on the small islands south of Zamboanga city. Abu Sayyaf has had a past of kidnapping people in Zamboanga, particularly in 2008 when there was a surge of kidnapping of humanitarian workers. Just this past August there was a bombing in the airport over some political issues. The bomb was aimed to kill just one person, which it didn't, it only killed the person carrying the bomb. Lastly, one day before we left 2 Abu Sayyaf members were killed so all Mindanao police were on high alert when we left on our trip. I was a bit nervous, but I was with many people and I trusted these people to not take me anywhere I would be in real danger. Everything ended up being perfectly safe.

I went on this trip with Catholic Relief Services, Mindanao office, but my time there was organized by the NGO, Peace Advocates Zamboanga (PAZ). PAZ is a CRS partner who does amazing work in peacebuilding in the Zamboanga-Basilan area. When we arrived on Monday PAZ welcomed us heartily and gave us an overview of the week ahead.

And what a week it was! PAZ organized a week chock full of interviews and focus group discussions and community visits for my research. As exhausting as it was I was able to get an ample amount of information for my research. During the week I interviewed directors of peace institutes at both Ateneo University and Western Mindanao State University, as well as the president of Western Mindanao State University and former peace panel member, Dr. Grace Rebollos (an amazing woman!). I toured the Muslim village of Mariki and spoke with the school principal there. I had a focus group discussion with women leaders from a Muslim, a Christian, and a Subanen (indigenous tribe) community. I also was able to meet with a majority of the convenors of the Interreligious Solidarity Movement for Peace, including its founder, Fr. Angel Calvo.

Zamboanga is a beautiful city. Largely untouched by tourism and development since many are afraid to travel to this area, the area has kept many original buildings, such as the 16^th century Spanish fort and the Spanish town hall. While the area has been preserved a bit because of the conflict (one positive?), it is also much poorer than Davao and many of the residents expressed the need for sustainable development. I, of course, forgot my camera, so here are a few pictures pulled from the web:

The City Hall with Rizal park in the foreground

taken from: http://www.zamboanga.com/html/funsun2.htm

Fort Pilar
Taken from: http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1018401048000101585iwKcMzqinM

The altar at Forth Pilar
Taken from: http://pamelaalfaro.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/que-haces-tu-
en-zamboanga/

The Muslim village of Mariki

Taken from: http://kenny-macrohon.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

One of the highlights of the trip was the people I was able to meet. The youth we met are amazing and could already have an MA in Peace Studies from Notre Dame about three times over from all the peace camps and peace advocacy they have been engaged in. The staff of PAZ were warm, smart, and passionate about peace. And my interviewees were quite inspiring from the amount of work they had done for peace. Overall, I felt quite inspired and refreshed from my trip to Zamboanga. The warmth and welcome I received from the people there reminded me of the responsibility I have to bring the voices of the people I have encountered in Mindanao back to the U.S. and work to contribute in some small way to peace.