Visit with IP Youth from Mindanao

On August 14th,2023 Kathara Society had a rare opportunity to meet with IP youth from a pilot cultural exchange program between UBC and Pamulaan Center for Indigenous Peoples Education in the Southeastern Philippines. We were fortunate to be able to have this meeting through learning about it via a connection to Ancestral Foodways project who mentioned being contacted by UBC about it.
Partnering with Ancestral Foodways we hosted a lunch prepared by Sol, raised in the tradition of making tamales from Mexico. It was a beautiful August day and we sat in the shade next to the garden in Strathcona Park by the Ancestral Foodways field house. We learned about the backgrounds of the Lumad youth who come various parts of Mindanao and how they are focusing their efforts after graduation in their ancestral domains. We learned about the struggles they face and the impacts of land grabbing to their traditional foods and culture.
We had a local urban Indigenous elder present as well, Viviane Sandy, who shared the in-common experiences happening in her territories.
We hope to stay connected and build upon these relations both with the youth as well as this cultural exchange program. May it continue and may these youth leaders show the way for their people now and in the times ahead.

Padayon!