There are journeys that take us to places, and there are journeys that bring us home to relationships. For me, Bai Madigar’s return to the Bagobo Tagabawa community was the latter. Her presence reminded me that kinship is not confined by blood, age, geography, or even generations. It grows through relationships of trust, respect, hospitality, shared memory, and mutual care. As a member of the Malik Clan of the Bagobo Tagabawa community, I have come to understand that belonging carries both joy and responsibility. What one generation begins, another generation can inherit, deepen, and carry forward. Seeing Bai Madigar, together with Byron and his family, reconnect with our Indigenous relatives touched me deeply. It was more than a family gathering; it was a living expression of intergenerational solidarity. For me, this is the beauty of peacebuilding: relationships becoming bridges, memory becoming heritage, and kinship becoming a pathway toward a more just and harmonious future.
