We are back in Tabuk from our amazing weekend in Asibanglan. I wanted Dave and Debbie to get the full adventure of it and it was all that and more. The adventure of the hike in up the steep muddy trail was only surpassed by the hike out yesterday when it rained all the way down. Dave helped us put a happy face on it by saying that the trail was being washed down before us. Both ways there was a lot of slipping and sliding. The younger Kalinga like to use rubber boots in these conditions. I hate walking in rubber boots, so I had decided to wear my crocks. Dave and Debbie had followed my lead and brought theirs as well. That was not a good choice of foot wear because they kept staying behind in the sticky muck, so we decided to hike barefoot. We were like little kids indulging our natural inclination to want to play in the mud. We were welcomed in true Asibanglan fashion with open hearts and over the top hospitality. Umek (Doleng’s 82 yr old mom) came down to the path to hug us all as we arrived covered in mud. Doleng waited to welcome until we had had a chance to go down to the spring behind her house to wash a bit of the muck off first. Doleng found comfortable beddings for all 10 of us guests and she, with Dominga (her crippled sister) fed us and hosted us royally, except for Sunday lunch when Noemi, Benito’s daughter and now one of the school teachers there wanted to host us at her house.
The main event of the weekend was the dedication of the memorial library to honour Pedro, Benito and Kuya, 3 of our former translators who have gone before. In the ideal world Saturday would have dawned bright and clear so that the event could have been celebrated in the open air on the school grounds, but in the real world it rained all night Friday and was still raining Saturday morning. The Kalingas have long experience of living in the real world and are adept at finding solutions for such contingencies. It wasn’t long before a bunch of men descended on the old school building (no longer in daily use because it should have been condemned as unsafe years ago) and began removing walls to make room for everyone under the roof. One wall became a stage for the priest who was there to conduct the worship to begin the day. They had invited Fr. Francis to come up from Allaguia to lead off the ceremonies with worship, following the Catholic tradition but open for all to attend. After the mass and the blessing and ribbon cutting for the new library, one of the young local leaders of the Alliance church took the mike (yes the had a generator and a sound system for the occasion) and lead the community in some hearty singing of a few worship choruses followed by a variety of talks interspersed with singing and Kalinga dance presentations, mostly by the children and young people. The little children were just fabulous as they competed to show off their dancing, wearing their traditional attire. They were hampered a bit by the tight space inside the old school building, but their joy and enthusiasm made up for that. Because of the late start due to the rain, having to remodel the facilities for the event, and the natural bent of people to talk and talk when they have a mike in their hand, the program went on way past lunch time, but I think the attitude of the people is that the value of a celebration is measured by the length of the program and everyone patiently went along, putting aside the hunger in their stomachs for the joy of celebrating the occasion. The program ended with speeches by a daughter of each of the former translators being honoured. Christy had us all in tears with her reflections on Pedro but she held back her tears until she was done and we all gave her a big hug and she cried on our shoulders. It was all moving and inspiring and we pray that the community will honour the memory of the translators by using the library as intended. Since meat is rarely in their diet, the lunch, enriched by the two big pigs we had brought was a real treat for the community. After lunch we went back to continue the celebration with some Kalinga dancing to the rythm of their antique brass gongs. In their style a dance leader goes around giving a length of cloth to one man and one woman whose turn it is then to dance. Others can join in, but the dance goes on until the man invites the woman to give him her cloth. We all had our turn, and to the delight of everyone, Dave came on wearing a Kalinga g-string (over his shorts) which someone graciously lent him. To end the day some of the Alliance youth demonstrated their Bible memory skills by reciting verses from the Kalinga Bible which they had memorized. This would have gone on longer but suddenly all attention focused on a fight which had broken out between two youths in the school yard outside. It reminded me of the bench clearing brawls in some of our sporting events in Canada. The community leaders put a quick end to the fight as any injury, especially if blood is drawn can spark a cycle of revenge. This was an unfortunate way to end the celebrations, but it did profile why a peacemaking ministry such as our guest Dann Pantoja profiled in his message is needed. The only other event which threatened marr the celebration was that at one point in the dancing the floor of the old school almost collapsed beneath the weight of all the people. All in all, it was a marvellous day of celebration. Now we pray that the new library will be used to help further educate and open the minds of the community to new possibilities and opportunities.
It is almost 5 now and we are about to leave on our next adventure. Eduardo and Christy are taking us to the world famous Banaue rice terraces. There we will say our good byes as we go on to Manila and then home and they come back here. Christy’s mom is joining us for this. More when I am back in Manila.
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