THE STORY OF FIVE MONTHS - A PERSPECTIVE AFTER 31 YEARS (4)

Chapter 4

We've Only Just Begun

By conquering the bridge, have we conquered the war? No, the war was just about to start.  All of us have their own wars. We have our own demons to slay and the three doctors living in this faraway shall make a difference as a group and as individuals. But later on as we delved deeper into our volunteer work, there is a far greater war occurring in the hinterlands.

Our house for 5 months with the people whom we have worked with

We were hosted by the Nolagas family. They have a fairly big well-built house in the village. We were welcomed by our foster mother, Remy and her children. We were about to ask where is the father of the house when they told us that he was killed in front of the family by the People's Court of the New People's Army for the simple reason that he pushed for the passage of the cadastral survey of Balbalan land. Kalingas believe that the lands they have are ancestral lands and the concept of a cadastral survey means partitioning them and private property is enforced. They showed us the tomb in front of the house. It was but a fleeting reminder of the kind of justice revolutionaries would mete out on people who they thought are against their aims.

We were all silenced. I was silenced because of fear. Is this what the people in Tabuk are trying to tell us? Who would not be scared? I have imagined a newspaper headline “Three young doctors killed by the revolutionaries for being part of the bourgeoisie.” I trembled in fear. But I remembered Nelson Mandela’s words, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”  I psyched myself that I will be able to go through this challenge. The other fear that confronted me most, however, was that will I be able to live up to the challenges ahead? I looked at my companions. I can’t read their faces. I said a prayer for the dead. I said a prayer for strength. I said a prayer for the success of this program.

The sound of the gongs awakened us.
Photo from musikocordillera.weebly.com

The house was a big building by Gawaan's standard. It was made of strong wood. We were billeted at the living room cum bedroom. There were three separate beds, one for each one of us. The kids were huddled into the other side of the house.  We selected our beds and we took our rest after the tiring trip and walk. Since there was no electricity in the area, darkness was countered by small kerosene lamps. We were provided with a Petromax to last for at least 3 hours until we have slept. Then we heard the sounds of the gongs. Initially it was soft, then it went crescendo and then went into plateau. The village chieftain, Manong Karyo, whom we have met at the Poblacion earlier came to us and told us to come to the village auditorium for the welcoming ceremony. 

The Taddok (Tadek)
Photo from the Igorotjournal.com

When we had arrived at the place, they started to dance the taddok (tadek in some). Taddok is the native dance of the Kalingas. They are performed during marriage festivities, fiestas, peace pact celebrations and when welcoming visitors. Generally Kalingas do the taddok to show how hospitable they are when welcoming visitors. They show their best to any visitor. Some girls took us to join the dance and we joined them.  Rocco and I followed the steps of the guys while Chita simulated the dance steps of the girls. Then we were invited to join them in partaking with the food prepared for us. They had butchered a carabao to welcome us. I was overwhelmed by the generosity and importance they gave us. I have read in a book that what was butchered will give importance to the visitor. If a carabao was butchered, they give high importance to you. For one, the carabao is very dear to the Kalingas. It is their animal in their farms. And since the animal is big, it could feed the whole village. Since the intention is to feed a greater number of the population it is the same way they regard you. The carabao is a cultural divide for me since I don't eat it! But staying in Kalinga, I have learned to eat the meat. I have experimented different recipes in order to muffle the perceive odor of the animal's meat. Eventually, I learned that what's best for us is to smoke the meat. 

The carabao is the most favored animal because it can feed a great number of people in the community
Photo from ugnayan.com

So dead tired that we didn't even had the time to reflect on what had happened to us. We were awakened in the morning by the aroma of boiled coffee. That distinctive whiff I can still remember. We were served rice, tapa (dried meat) and coffee for breakfast. We had our first visitors for the day - two men carrying rifles partaking Nanang's rich and fragrant Kalinga coffee. We were told that the coffee was home blend and harvested in their coffee plantations deep into the Balbalan forests and it was the arabica species. I had tasted different Arabica coffee already but Nanang's brew was simply superb. The men did not talk to us but we already had an impression of these people. 

The day was spent cleaning and preparing our clinic. There's a room next to the house that was converted as our clinic. We pulled out the boxes given to us by the health department - there was a variety of basic medications and some intravenous fluids inside. We were watched upon by the ogling eyes of the children of Gawaan as we continued to do our work. They would giggle and laugh at us. We smiled back and teased them too. We had finally confirmed our suspicion that it was Chita who was being called melicano. Before the day ended the clinic was ready to entertain patients. Our lives as part of the community had begun. 

Note:
Those who own the pictures I have used and does not want to appear in this blog, please e-mail me at rqmallari60@gmail.com and I would be more than willing to remove them. Thank you.