LISTEN, RECOGNIZE, AND RESPECT THE KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM OF THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

We are now documenting and processing all the facts and data from our field interaction last 28-30 July 2021 with the Mandaya people in Caraga, Davao Oriental. The Indigenous People’s leadership there officially invited us — PeaceBuilders Community and CoffeeForPeace — through the initiative of the TriPeoples Development and Services Foundation. We are reminded once again that people have wisdom based on, and learned from, their varied experiences and contexts. We ought to listen to them. We ought to recognize their voices. We ought to stop treating them with condescending, or looking-down, attitude.

Romy Elusfa, Executive Director of TriPeoples Development and Services Foundation, introduces PBCI-CFP Inclusive Development Consulting Team to Barangay Pichon Captain Porferio Madanlo; to the Mandaya Indigenous Peoples Structure; and, to key farming families in the community. Mandaya Ancestral Territories, Pichon, Caraga, Davao Oriental. 29 July 2021.

Here are some reflections and reminders to my team:

We must listen to the Indigenous People’s wisdom. Much have been said about the Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP). It’s one thing to ‘hear about them,’ it’s another thing to ‘listen to them.’ Listening has three aspects: intellect, emotion, and will. Listening absorbs the data and facts from the people’s knowledge. Listening absorbs the feelings of the people as they share the focus of their hearts’ and minds’ attention — their reality. Listening prompts the listener to act — that is, short-term action, mid-term action, and long-term action.

Captain Porferio Madanlo of Barangay Pichon gave time to Sihaya Ansibod to share the training process PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) is offering. Sihaya is Director of Field Operations at PBCI. Mandaya Ancestral Territories, Pichon, Caraga, Davao Oriental. 29 July 2021.

We must recognize the Indigenous People’s knowledge and wisdom. Recognition is the identification, recollection, recalling, remembrance of what they know, and acknowledging the existence, validity, or legality of Indigenous knowledge and wisdom. Many researchers would document certain IKSP, publish them, then secure legal copyrights on them that even the IP communities who were the subjects of the study need to ask for copyright permission before republishing their own knowledge and wisdom! This is ridiculous, and yet so accepted as the norm in the academic and corporate world. The IP knowledge and wisdom are theirs. They simply entrusted us to put them in writing because their knowledge banking is through oral tradition in the context of their spirituality, worldview, values system, and customary laws.

Joji ’Lakambini’ Mapayapa, CEO of Coffee for Peace, Inc., was given time to ask questions on the Mandaya’s struggles and successes on indigenous livelihood. Mandaya Ancestral Territories, Pichon, Caraga, Davao Oriental. 29 July 2021.

We must stop treating them, their knowledge, and their wisdom with condescension. This is another way of saying, “Let us truly and sincerely respect them!” Most government agencies, non-government organizations, business corporations, religious missions, and other intervening entities say they respect the IPs and yet they implement programs without even listening whether those programs are actually needed or doing harm, wittingly or unwittingly, in the lives of the IPs.

I, Lakan Sumulong, was given time to listen to Mandaya’s worldview, values system, and customary laws. This gave me some foundation to discern what ’the good life’ means to them. We avoid using the term ’development’ because it has been misused and abused in the past — as in, ’development aggression.’ Mandaya Ancestral Territories, Pichon, Caraga, Davao Oriental. 29 July 2021.


We’re now developing the first 6 months of our Inclusive Development training among key farmers and community leaders in two Mandaya communities in Caraga. May our PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team serve with humility and genuine respect to the Mandaya and all the Indigenous Peoples who invite us to work with them.

Captain Porferio Madanlo of Barangay Pichon gave the last words, summarizing and integrating what have been said by his fellow community leaders and constituents. He also gave the permission and blessing for TriPeople Development and Services Foundation to continue working with PBCI and CFP in exploring Inclusive Development initiatives, starting with coffee. Mandaya Ancestral Territories, Pichon, Caraga, Davao Oriental. 29 July 2021.


Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/10/listen-recognize-and-respect-the-knowledge-and-wisdom-of-the-indigenous-peoples/

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