Honouring culture and habitat

Subanen woman working on the crafts. Photo: Fr Vinnie BuschMy name is Evangelyn Gawason. My friends call me Vangie. I’m a Subanen. The Subanens are an indigenous people whose ancestral homeland covers most of the mountainous Zamboanga Peninsula in the Philippines. For the past six years I have been involved in a livelihood project called Subanen Crafts. Columban Fr Vincent Busch started our craft project in 2001 with the help of the Columban Sisters who have been working with the Subanen people since 1984.

Making hand-crafted items including the Christmas cards is part of the Subanen culture. Through this work I have learnt to celebrate our bond with the natural world.

Over the past 15 years Subanen Crafts has provided dignified livelihoods for 76 full time and part time crafters.

I would like to share how the project and other Columban ministries have helped my family, my people and our habitat.

Being the oldest in our family I try to help my younger brother Roniel and sisters Lalay and Jen who board in the distant town of Midsalip to go to high school. I am able to use my earnings as a crafter to pay for their living expenses, their school supplies and project fees.    

A basic education is becoming essential for Subanens as more and more land-hungry settlers and resource-seeking industries occupy our ancestral land. Many illiterate Subanens have been fooled into signing or endorsing official documents that authorize outsiders to take possession of our land and its resources.

Attending school is difficult for Subanen students whose families find it hard to meet the educational costs. Students often have to travel long distances over rough terrain to schools where teachers are often late or do not show up at all. Many teachers do not speak our tribal language or understand our customs. The children began to feel that their language and culture were not important; they felt ashamed and left out. Sadly, many stopped attending school altogether.

The Columban Sisters recognized the need to help and began a pre-school program with Subanen-speaking teachers. Over the years the Sisters and the staff of their Subanen Ministry have built nine pre-schools with an enrolment of more than two hundred. The pre-schools are happy places for our little ones where teachers listen with wonder when the children tell stories about snakes that fly, about eagles that eat monkeys, about the shy tarsiers (small leaping tree-dwelling primate) that appear only at night, and about the wild pigs that try to eat our crops.

The teachers appreciate the sheltering mountains, the forested hills, and the cool streams of our ancestral habitat. They understand how rituals of thanksgiving to God are part of Subanen life. They encourage learning through play, song, dance, and drama and affirm our culture, traditions and respect our spirituality.

Through my employment with Subanen Crafts I have been able to pay for the construction of a new kitchen area for our home to replace the old cooking area which was outside. This is a welcome improvement.

This year our Christmas card designs show Mary and Joseph's 'Flight into Egypt'. Like Mary and Joseph, many Subanens have also fled their homes because mining companies have ravaged their land.

I would like to thank Columban benefactors who have helped to improve our lives through the support of Subanen Crafts Christmas cards. May God bless you.

 

LISTEN TO: Honouring culture and habitat
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Related links

 Subanen Christmas Card

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