Batad and the last stretch in Tabuk

How are things? I just got home from an incredible adventure. I went to see the 8th wonder of the world, mud-walled rice terraces at Banaue. I arrived in Banaue, got the usual hassle from a tricy driver - essentially, I'll be your tourist guide and help you part with your money ASAP. I went to eat, saw the terraces and decided the town wasn't for me. So I decided to go to a different village, without road access, in order to find the silence I was looking for. I found it, in Batad.

It's a 5 km hike up and over the mountain. I met a local woman in the jeep and so we walked together. We took the path the locals favour. It was straight up, but so worth it cuz when I got to the top there was a rainstorm. Otherwise I would have hiked in the rain nearly the whole way. I rested at the top and then hiked the last 3 km down the mtn in the rain. It was killer. Today, I did the hike out and I don't know how I did it the first time - in the pouring rain at dusk. I guess hunger is a great motivator :)

So I stayed two nights there. I hiked all thru the town, over the terraces and went swiming at a waterfall (90ft high). And best of all, I saw less than 10 other tourists. It was great to have a break. Banuae and Batad are in Ifugao province, Ifugao is the largest tribe in the Cordillera, ie they have their own province. The Ifugao have the reputation of being the best engineers among the Cordillera tribes, they created the rice terraces over 2,000 years ago, using a complicated system of bamboo tubes to irrigate and, unlike most terraces they made mud walls in stead of reinforcing with rocks. The terraces at Batad and Banaue are UNESCO world heritage sites.

I handed in my thesis on Sunday, so that's over now. I am a social worker, wheew. Graduation is on Oct 24, a bit after I return.

Last Saturday, I did two workshops. It was good, learned a lot, heard a lot of stories. The workshops were on women's health issues and violence against women. Contrary to most places (esp. in the first world), where the majority of violence against women is perpetrated by a close relative, friend or partner (about 85% in Canada), in the Philippines a significant portion of VAW here is perpetrated by the military and the police, particularly rapes. So we spent a lot of time talking about strategies for safety etc.

It's a hard hard thing to process, that those who are supposed to "serve and protect" have the worst record for killing, torturing and raping women. The justice system is designed to favour men for ex. when a case goes to court the military and police have the option of testifying, they don't have to participate in the legal process. The laws for rape put the burden of proof on the victim, ie he/she has to prove that it wasn't consensual. In cases where an anulment is happening due to infidelity, infidelity for men is defined as having a second home with a partner, ie one-night stands do not qualify. For women, one incidence is enough to have grounds for annulment. Makes me burn...

I've been buried in UN and NGO reports about violence here. At the workshop, I shared many stories and case studies from the reports, the participants confirmed many of the facts and shared about more local cases. It's the reality here. It was good to have a forum for discussing the experience of Indigenous women. I also shared with them about the Pickton case.

So there's two weeks left here in Tabuk and then I'm going to go to Manila. I'll visit some friends there and volunteer at the shelter where I worked in 2005. When I visited in May I noticed a lot of changes, so I'm looking forward to really catching up with the staff I worked with.

I'll try and post once more before I go back to TO. If not watch for the top ten when I return. It's been great sharing this trip with you guys, thanks for all your emails, letters, packages etc. I'm looking forward to seeing you all again and catching up.

peace