From the 20th to the 22nd of January we were in Bukidnon Province. We met with the architects of Central Mindanao University’s Mount Kalayo Institute for Social Enterprise Growth (MKISEG) to explore the possibility of a partnership between MKISEG and Coffee For Peace to create a program for training indigenous farmers in coffee cultivation.
We also made sure to spend time catching up and fellowshipping with the PAR Bukidnon team and with the enthusiastic young missionaries of the Kalinaw Youth Movement — PAR Bukidnon’s campus ministry at CMU.
Pastor Manny Alquino of PAR Bukidnon gave us a tour of his Sidlak Pinoy operation — a social enterprise which creates inexpensive house-building bricks out of Bukidnon’s abundant river silt mixed with the ash of burnt rice hulls.
Before heading back to Davao, we joined MKISEG in presenting our coffee education plans to the regional office of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples. The NCIP shares our hopes for an improved quality of life among Bukidnon’s marginalized IPs.
