“The Spirit of the Creator was there!” That was the constant existential feeling I had while participating at the Talaandig Day Celebration. It was held last 14 October 2022 in their ancestral territory at the foot of Mt. Kitanglad. That day of festivities was actually the final event of a whole week of rituals and celebrations. It was indeed a day when, from the perspective of our team at PBCI and CFP, we participated in activities that harmonizes us with the Creator, with our being, with others, and with the creation. Our team also accompanied the traditional leaders of the Bagobo Tagabawa Tribe to meet the traditional leaders of the Talaandig Tribe, praying and hoping that the two Indigenous communities become partners in inclusive development.
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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/10/17/the-spirit-of-magbabaya-was-there-during-the-talaandig-day-festivities/
Through the invitation of their leaders, we went to the Matigsalug Ancestral Domain to listen. Listening for us is the first act of love. We listen first to the Matigsalug Indigenous People and their traditional leaders’ worldview, value system, and behavior patterns. As a team of inclusive development workers and social entrepreneurial mentors, we are listening through the “headphones” of our understanding of Peace and Reconciliation (PAR), of Indigenous Knowledge System and Practices (IKSP), of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act (IPRA), and of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). We hope to help amplify the voices of the Matigsalug people as they continue to allow us to journey with them towards the full enjoyment of their Right to Self-Determination and their right to protect, reclaim, and regenerate their Ancestral Domain.
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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/10/08/field-ops-team-explores-relationship-with-a-matigsalog-indigenous-community/
Last 20-26 September 2022, Doug Klassen (Executive Director, Mennonite Church Canada), Jeanette Hanson (Director, Mennonite Church Canada Witness), and Norm Dyck (Mission Minister, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada) accompanied the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDevTeam) in our regularly scheduled field work. Our field trip included a meeting with a Philippine Army officer, with the Council of Elders of the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mount Apo (MADADMA), with the Obo Manobo coffee farmers in Kidapawan, with the founders of TriPeople Development & Services Foundation, and with the Council of Elders of the Unified Bagobo Tagabawa Tribe. They also met with our Manila-based BOT members.
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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/09/27/mennonite-church-canada-leaders-visit-pbci-cfp-field-partners/
The Obo Manobo Coffee Farmers sent their representatives at the Philippine Coffee Expo 2022 (PCE2022) to present their initial product. Datu Romeo Andot, Bai Gemma Andot, and Alvin Baroro were sent by the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mount Apo (MADADMA). They were accompanied by Rich Paul Calceta and Don Tormis of the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of Energy Development Corporation (CSR-EDC). Sihaya Ansibod, PBCI Field Operations Director assisted them. The Obo Manobo Coffee presented in this event was the product of a long-term program to develop key farmers who would be the local champions we refer to as ‘farmer entrepreneurs’ or farmerpreneurs. This is part of an on-going inclusive development initiative of MADADMA. We, at PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team, has been tasked to facilitate social preparation, community organization, and training in basic entrepreneurial skills.
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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/09/16/obo-manobo-farmers-present-sample-product-at-the-philippine-coffee-expo-2022/
We learned that the new Division Commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the highest military officer in the whole Greater Davao Region, is willing to have a dialogue with peacebuilding civil society organizational leaders. We, at PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) immediately prayed for, and planned, a course of action to pay him a courtesy call. We also invited our civil society partners – Mindanao PeaceWeavers, Initiatives for International Dialogue, All-Out Peace Network, and Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict – to join us. Last 29 August 2022, MajGen Nolasco A. Mempin, along with his staff and ground commanders under him, received our group into the headquarters of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.
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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/08/31/peace-network-engages-government-military-in-a-peace-dialogue/
26 – 27 Aug 2022. The Talaandig Indigenous People’s community in Sungko, Lantapan, Bukidnon, finished the first of two social entrepreneurship workshops which was jointly facilitated by Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), led by Dr. Jinky Bornales, and the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team). With the cultural guidance and leadership of Datu Migketay “Vic” Saway, the seminar-workshop focused on generating Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) that can be used in their social enterprise ventures. The participants also identified the products that they want to develop as social enterprises.
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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/08/28/talaandig-community-finishes-first-workshop-on-social-entrepreneurship/
Last 24-30 July 2022, Pope Francis visited Canada for an “Apostolic Journey.” Many expected that he would apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the abuse of Indigenous children in the residential schools in Canada. Instead, he said, “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples.” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Pope’s two apologies, the one in Edmonton and the first one in Rome in April, “have failed to acknowledge the church’s institutional role in the residential school system.” Here’s how I see the pope’s Canadian visit as an Anabaptist peacebuilding worker.
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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/07/30/pope-francis-canadian-visit-an-anabaptist-peacebuilding-workers-perspective/
