Project Report - La Trobe University

Appendix 3. Manila Bulletin article
They left their heart in Kalinga
By Rachel C. Barawid
First posted in the Thursday, July 16, 2009 edition of the Manila Bulletin (sourced online
from: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/211152/they-left-their-heart-kalinga)
An indigenous community in Kalinga gets
help from the most unlikely people -- at the
right time.
It all began with a grueling 22-hour
backpacking adventure in the Cordilleras
for Australian tourist Tim Andrews. His
travels brought him to an indigenous
village in Tinglayan, Kalinga province
where he spent the night with one of the
Ichananaw families.
Fascinated with the place and its people,
Andrews went back, this time with friend
Edwyn Cameron. The discovery of this
paradise also enticed Edwyn’s wife Maria
to join them on yet another trip. The
couple who stayed in the country on a
study and professional volunteer
program, found themselves smitten with
the people and the rich culture.
“It’s the friendships that came first, and
then the partnership. The community was
open, warm and hospitable,” shares 26year-old
Maria from Melbourne.
INDIGENIZING EDUCATION
Maria then studied the local language, in
the process endearing herself to the
Ichananaw children and elders who asked
for her help to preserve their culture.
Some 6,700 members of the Ichananaw
tribe live in the remote community in
Barangay Dananao in Kalinga, accessible
only via a three-hour hike. Farming is
their source of livelihood.
Indigenizing Education in a Kalinga Public School | 34
“The elder Fargwog Aga-id, a teacher,
asked us to stay for one year and help
document their traditions to pass on to
future generations. But we only had five
months to spare so we compromised on
getting it all done within that period,”
recalls Maria, a research fellow at the
Philippines Australia Studies Centre in La
Trobe University in Australia and a
volunteer at the Ateneo Center for
Educational
Development (ACED).
She was also approached by Arlene
Dawing, principal of the Dananao
Elementary School (DES) to help their
school avail of educational materials
through ACED. “We have only four
teachers to cater to 160 pupils.
We have seven classes but only five
makeshift classrooms. We only have a few
textbooks so the teachers are the ones
holding the book and reading aloud to
their students,” laments Dawing.
She says most children only finish
elementary. Those who go to high school
and college support themselves by
working as house helpers in nearby
towns.
Apart from having a poor quality of
education due to a mismatch between the
indigenous students’ way of life versus
the teaching and learning tools available,
the IPs cultural heritage is also in danger
of becoming extinct. There is no
comprehensive documentation of their