Earthquakes and Rainbows

I am already home, but my mind and heart are full of the visit to the Philippines …and the hollowed out exhaustion of jet lag that strikes every afternoon. Jet lag recovery generally takes a day for every hour of time difference.

My first full day of visiting in the Philippines started in Cebu. Patrick Gerard Torres, the new, young executive director of Central Visayas Farmers Development Center, Inc. (FARDEC) went with me by ferry to the island of Bohol. Three young dancers/workshop leaders, one researcher/documentary maker, one office staff person and founder welcomed us to the Bohol People’s Art Development Centre (BPADC). They shared their stories of October 15, 2013 when a 7.2 earthquake occurred at 8.12 a.m. and the  aftershocks that continue and frighten those who lived through the earthquake. Members of BPADC worked tirelessly delivering food relief after the earthquake. They are now resuming workshops which offer young people an opportunity to express their feelings about the earthquake through dance and drama, and the effect it has had on their lives and communities. Working with local nurses, BPADC provides psycho-social support for people who have lost their houses and often family members, and face years of rebuilding homes, schools and communities. In many places the land is not yet stable enough to rebuild.

On a drive along the coast we stopped at a marine park where the shoreline after the earthquake has permanently receded nearly 40 meters.  A rainbow appeared on the horizon while we were there. Dancer Marlon’’s father and mother welcomed us to their barangay (neighbourhood) and offered us freshly cut coconuts to drink and eat. Marlon says he hasn’t inherited his father’s ability to climb coconut palms, but that evening I saw the same grace and dexterity manifested in his dances for social change. When people are pressed by disasters and external forces that diminish or destroy life, desires for food, drink and healthy communities distil into demands for survival and a future where people have a say and active role in what happens to their land and livelihoods.