In seeking to continually grow creative and competent educators for indigenous young learners despite the global COVID-19 crisis, Cartwheel Foundation again brought together its partner community teachers for a three-day online training in November, National Children’s Month.

The second “Daloy ng Karunungan sa Gitna ng Krisis” Training for Sama-Bajau Community Teachers this year was held on November 17, 19, and 24. It was made possible through support from development partner, Consuelo Zobel Alger Foundation. The main objective of the training was to provide a safe holding space for community teachers to hone their capacities and creativities in delivering rights-based, culturally-relevant and resilience-focused education to indigenous learners, amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This initiative is part of Consuelo Foundation’s Life Skills program, which aims to provide the learners with relevant learning materials to ensure their sustained access to education. At the same time, it also aims to provide children and youth with interventions to build their knowledge, skills, and competencies to be empowered individuals.

Participants were community teachers and learning facilitators serving Sama-Bajau learners in Metro Manila and Zamboanga, government partners from the Department of Social Welfare and Development-National Capital Region (DSWD-NCR) and the City Social and Welfare Development Office of Parañaque (CSWDO-Parañaque), and members of the Sama-Bajau Core Group residing in Brgy. San Dionisio, Parañaque City.

 

KAMALAYAN (Rights and Current Realities of the IPs amid the COVID-19 Pandemic)

Ms. Maria Teresa “Miks” Guia-Padilla, executive director of Anthropology Watch, began by inviting the participants—many of whom are indigenous Sama-Bajau—to draw “where home is” to them. While most of them illustrated the sea as their shared element of origin, the participants also commonly depicted home as a place where they can be together with their families, safe and sound, wherever they may be residing. This conversation about their origins, and their aspiration to live peaceful lives as a people, set the tone for an insightful exchange on the rights and current realities of Indigenous Peoples (IP).

Anchoring the ensuing discussion on  the Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA),  Ms. Guia-Padilla highlighted the importance of upholding the four bundles of rights among IPs, pertaining to: (i) ancestral land and waters, (ii) self-governance, (iii) social justice, and (iv) cultural integrity. She explained how these rights are all the more relevant in the time of COVID-19, as IPs remain to be among the most vulnerable given various factors such as geographical location, limited sources of income, and difficulty in accessing basic services. She concluded on a hopeful note, recounting time-tested indigenous “best practices” that have proven effective for certain IP communities amidst the pandemic. These stories reminded the participants of the many strengths IPs possess to help them overcome the challenges of these times.

 

KUMUSTAHAN AT KAPATIRAN (Honoring Shared Journeys)

Ms. Kristine “Bambi” Gamban, Expressive Arts facilitator of MAGIS Creative Spaces, led the participants through simple yet meaningful arts-based activities that allowed them time and space to reconnect with themselves, reflecting on their well-being especially in the time of pandemic.

She also briefly shared about stress and the different practical ways to address it, through breathing, meditation, and going back to one’s “safe space”. She reminded the teacher-participants that as individuals who often reach out to many others, it is most important to give time for oneself to recharge as well. From this session, the participants learned that being able to come back to one’s sources of strength and joy in a safe environment goes a long way in nurturing their wellbeing. In this way, they can, in turn, nurture the needs of the children and communities they serve.

 

KALINGA SA KABATAAN (Culture-sensitive Protection and Support for Indigenous Children)

Ms. Carmen Reyes-Moyaen, executive director of Child and Family Service Philippines, Inc., began by sharing the formal definition of who is considered a child. She helped raise participants’ awareness on child abuse, citing sexual abuse as its most common form. Pointers were shared on how to concretely help children to be kept safe from sexual abuse.

Specific considerations were also given for abused indigenous children whose cultural contexts may make for differences compared to other children. As guidance in handling disclosures, she outlined an ideal step-by-step process on how to report cases of child abuse in partner communities to ensure that the welfare and well-being of their children are made top priority.

In the ensuing discussion, the participants expressed their realization that both healing justice and psychosocial support are important aspects of child protection. They likewise recognized the significance of acknowledging and harnessing their own indigenous practices and governance structures in upholding the rights of children in their respective communities.

 

KANLUNGAN (Nurturing Safe Spaces in the Time of Quarantine)

Through an interactive story-reading and art-making activity based on a featured lesson from The Legends of the SEA (Southeast Asia) Artbook, Ms. Pia Ortiz-Luis, executive director of Cartwheel Foundation, explored with the Sama-Bajau participants how drawing from  the richness of their own culture can help them  nurture safe learning spaces for their young learners—even in the time of pandemic.

Inspired by the Sama-Bajau peoples’ origin story, socio-anthropological information about their tribe, and their own “bottle art,”  the teacher-participants reflected on their own concept of “being safe” and created their own “safe space in a bottle”. From this exploration, they expressed that being able to facilitate activities based on their people’s inherent strengths, is one way of creating a safe learning environment for the Sama-Bajau children. They added that, while the pandemic posed challenges to the conduct of classes in the beginning, much of the initial difficulties have been addressed through a combination of creativity, care, and compliance with safety guidelines.

 

KALUSUGAN AT KATATAGAN (Staying Healthy and Strong During the COVID-19 Crisis)

The resource person for the fifth session was Ms. Mary Ruth V. Enriquez, RN-MAN, clinical instructor at Ateneo de Zamboanga University.

Ms. Enriquez began by sharing relevant statistics on COVID-19, followed by updates on a possible vaccine. She reminded the participants that the vaccine alone cannot be relied on for protection; other continued precautionary measures should be practiced.

She then shared practical tips like proper use of facemasks, reminders on how to keep our surroundings safe, and ways to keep our bodies strong through healthy eating. Specific health considerations and challenges as experienced by  IPs and IP support groups were brought up, encouraging participants to reflect on how health awareness may be improved among their own learners and the communities they belong to.

 

KILOS KOMUNIDAD (Commitments for Community-based Action-response)

As a closing session, Ms. Ortiz-Luis of Cartwheel again led the participants through intuitive art activities that helped them in their reflection on crucial points moving forward:

What would it take to create or maintain a safe learning space for their learners or even their own children? What can each participant concretely contribute to helping build their sought after safe learning space? What type of support would they be needing? 

The participants openly shared and listened to each other’s thoughts and reflections. Although expressed in different ways, the group spoke of their steadfast commitment to being of service to Sama-Bajau children they serve, even with the many challenges this pandemic has brought about.

As a final activity, participants were requested to mold a symbol that would reflect their intentions for the Sama-Bajau in the coming months. Ms. Fatima Ahiyal of Ateneo de Zamboanga University-Center for Community Extension Services created a boat with a heart, saying in Tagalog:

“The heart symbolizes the advice I am willing to share in the next months. I learned a lot these past three days of training; what I learned from the last training series was deepened. I will surely share all I learned with all our other teachers (in Zamboanga) in a small session of our own.

“My heart also feels full. And it is a good feeling. I would like to commit my time and energy towards creating a safe space or center.

“I am also committed to continuing my work in guiding the teachers especially in the time of pandemic. I would like to make sure they remain effective in their teaching our young learners; I would like to be present as a support system for them too.

“I am very grateful to have remained part of this process of learning, re-learning, and unlearning.”

As was the experience of Ms. Ahiyal, so is the hope for the community teachers who participated—that their cycle of giving and receiving, growing and flowing from relevant learning be passed on to young learners, their parents, and the rest of the communities whom they serve.