The text below can also be found at the Nabua Forum Projects page of this website. Concerned parties may share comments and suggestions by following and posting messages under this thread. Brief Background:[i]Iniristoryawan is the second round of the Nabua Forum's Adarna Book Project. The Nabua Forum, in March 2007, delivered sets of Philippine-published and -authored books as alternative reading materials for children enrolled in Nabua Central Pilot School and Antipolo Young Community School, respectively the largest and smallest schools in Nabua. The books, both in the English and Filipino language, target children from ages 3-12. To inculcate in Nabueño children love of country and appreciation for what we have as a nation was the main objective of the donation drive. The project was made possible through the donations of Nabuenos based in many parts of the world. Coordination on project planning to implementation was generally held via the internet, through the spaces of interaction provided by this online Forum. Volunteers also included Nabuenos based abroad, in Manila, and in Nabua.
For newly registered members, more information on Nabua Forum's Iniristoryawan and Adarna Project can be found under the Nabua Forum Projects page (see Main Menu). You may browse the Control Panel of the Nabua Forum Projects page to see the archives and other project documents. What follows next is a copy of a Letter from Roman "Bong" Alvarez, one of the supporters of this project. Planning for Iniristoryawan was temporarily suspended in July 2007 due to some misalignments in the involved members' preferred project/curriculum design. Nabua Forum wishes now to proceed with the planning for this project.[/color]
_________________________________________
C3 Institute
Roman A. Alvarez, M.A., Ed.D. Creativity, Counseling
Houston, Texas 77098 USA
Psychotherapist & Consultant
www.c3institute.us LPC, LMFT, LSOTP, NCC, ACS, FAPA roman@c3institute.us
Tel 832.865.7381 Fax 713.229.0297
August 5, 2007
Members of Nabua Forum
Kultura Volunteers
RE: Nabua Forum – Book Project Round 2 Letter of Support
Dear Dada and Dear mga-kanguran kong taga-Nabua:
Maray na aldow o gab-i po kaninyo ngamin! Kumusta po kamo? I hope this letter finds all of us well and happy. I am writing this letter of support for Book Project Round 2 to the members of the Nabua Forum Projects. I feel joyful, humbled and honored to support Kultura Volunteers’ Adarna & Filipino book project. Through this book reading-mentoring endeavor at the elementary education, I strongly believe that we can make a difference in the lives of our Nabua children, the next generation and future leaders of our tribes and nations. By virtue of opening their minds through reading books authored by Filipino writers, such future leaders and elders of Nabua (and who knows where else) would wisely understand, honor, respect and be proud of our Bikolano-Filipino culture and language: our roots; would claim or re-claim their space and honorable place in this world; and would serve as highly differentiated responsible agents of change and stewards of development both in Nabua or else where.
In recent years, some if not most of us (including myself), have uplifted ourselves economically and socially through education. Education has, in many ways, helped most of us be where we are now (i.e., in a safe, productive and comfortable lifestyle). Basic education for all children, especially our children in Nabua, is of paramount importance. Certainly I’m singing to the choir here. Central to education is learning who we are and about our world. We agree that Nabua has a rich history and unique culture. But what is this unique culture of ours? Has it ever been studied in depth that one dares to decode or articulate its symbols, metaphors and meanings clearly, scholarly, hermeneutically and proudly in our educational system or other venues of learning?
Moreover, have our recent ancestors (e.g., educational, tribal or sectarian) ever taught us clearly -- using the lenses for our indigenous cultural images and voices or texts of our symbolic language -- what a Nabueno-Bikolano-Filipino is all about? Have our recent ancestors ever unconditionally blessed us to be proud of our Ibalon tribal origins, such as the Agta-Cimarron, Agta-Tabangnon, and other Malayo-Polynesian waves of ancestral extractions? Not that it is anything less, but most of us have been educated by the lens(es), voices and ideas of other cultures imposing their colonial vision and language. A number of us have been acculturated to the colonial influences of the West. If you have been educated and blessed based on our indigenous ways, then you are truly lucky! You have been given the gift of rootedness and genuine identity.
Yes, the question of national or cultural identity, pride, or rootedness is central to education. But who gets to define the identity of Nabuenos-Bikolanos-Filipinos? Who are Nabuenos? Who are we in the complex culture of the Philippine islands? Are we Nabuenos, Bikolanos, or Filipinos? Or for those of us, like me, who live and make a living in other parts of the world: are we hybridized Filipino-Americans, Filipino-Europeans, Filipino-Arabians, etc.? Who gets to define us? Who gets to define you? In this era of post-colonialism and post-modernism, Nabuenos have a task to help build or re-build our cultural and national identity by educating our children with ideas, literature, imagination, myths, metaphors, symbols, folklores, and aspirations germane to our indigenous languages (e.g., Bikol, Tagalog, Visayan, Ilokano, Pampango, etc.) and ways of our islands. Informed by our indigenous culture and ways of knowing, Nabua children have the right to define themselves. A right that was denied to most of us growing up in Nabua.
For clarification, I am not espousing we ignore other persuasions of learning or refute other forms of educating our children. Clearly, it is sheer ignorance and negligence to exclude other ways of knowing derived from other cultures and nations which shape diversity. Such sources of diversity could, say the least, inform, enrich, cross-fertilize or transform our quest for integration between tension of opposites: arts vs science; secular vs religious; profane vs sacred; particular vs universal; modern vs post-modern; colonial vs indigenous/post-colonial; philosophical vs pragmatic; political vs cultural, among other tensions. I am espousing, however, that everyone looks back to their origins and respect them; this is required to gain a clear understanding of the ontological grounds of our roots and psyche (i.e., what is the nature of our being?). Simply put “and taong hindi marunong lumingon sa pinangalingan ay hindi makakaroon sa patutunguhan.” Wherever we go we always carry Nabua in us. But what is our Nabua nature? How is it informed? How do we make explicit what is implicit in being a Nabueno-Bikolano-Filipino? And how do we agree about its explicit manifestation? No easy answers here, but Kultura Volunteers’ Adarna book reading-mentoring project at the elementary education is definitely a good start!
Personally, it would be hypocritical to deny that I continue to benefit from the Western-Draconian epistemology for which I am very grateful. However, to have rootedness and to be in alignment with one’s true sense of identity (i.e., the royal sector of our psyche... or who we really are as an individual Nabueno-Bikolano-Filipino or as a collective Nabuenos-Bikolanos-Filipinos), we must call for re-indigenization or re-education of our psyche, our culture, our land (Bikol and the Philippine Islands) with our own traditional ways of knowing (epistemology) dispensing our own language or metaphors, literature, mythology, folklores, cultural images and other local forms of practices or imagining the world. To do this, we need dedicated teachers, leaders (like Dada), supporters (like us), patrons and volunteers willing and ready to take action to bring this royal agenda to fruition. With the speed of our current technology, we can help by communicating our good intentions and support (yes, I mean financial, small or large amounts) for this project. I trust that we can all contribute to this venerable cause and service to our Nabua Children.
I thank you for reading and listening. Kindly contribute to and support the Book Project Round 2. Dios Mabalos po kaninyo ngamin!
In Service,
Roman “Bong” Alvarez
Bong Alvarez’s brief bio:
Ika-onsing (kauriyan na) igin ni Oscar “Karing” Ocampo Alvarez (taga-Naga) anggan ni Anastacia “Tayang” Buena Austria Alvarez (taga-Baao), nag-dakulo iya sadtu Sagpad, San Isidro, Nabua (talikuran ka Munisipyo). Nurtured by mother nature-Nabua (1960-1974), he had a very active imagination as a child and played all over town from morning till dusk. Memory lane highlights age seven when he became one of the child butterflies with soft, wide and variegated color wings in a fairy-tale inspired production showcased by Nabua Central School at the town municipal social hall. A hyperactive child meandering around town, he paid consistent respects to apo and apong lipod as he walked by or through so-called enchanted nooks, crannies, creeks, rocks, rubbles and trees. Climbed trees and ate their fruits, admired the majestic Mayong and other surrounding mountains from the top of their blistering hot tin roof, sang with various multi-colored birds (probably extinct by now) nesting in the wild trees of the sagpad, and was awed by the rainbows in late afternoons after a cleansing rainfall. Famous for his: baloy-baloy and luto-luto; and summer parades in Parada (late 60’s-early 70’s) with childhood friends (e.g., Duran, Ocampo, Sales children, sister Be-Ann and others), supported by a Patroness of the Art, the former First Lady of Nabua, Mrs. Delia Duran.
Educated at Nabua East Central Pilot School (“Dalakit”), he was a folk-dancer in elementary school. Later danced with the Far Eastern University (FEU) Dance Troupe in college. His favorite and most influential elementary school teacher was Manay Ining Navarra-Basinal (4th grade teacher, 1970). She inspired him by opening his mind through reading, collaborative classroom work, active imagination, and believing in him. Thus, he turned honor student in 4th grade after 3 years of academic struggle (grades 1-3). He was later educated at Nabua High School (1st year), and graduated from Adamson University-Boys’ High School, FEU, and Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas.
Currently lives in Houston, Texas, USA, he makes an honest living as Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Educational Leadership & Counseling, Prairie View A&M University–Texas A&M University System, and as Psychotherapist and Consultant – Private Practice, Houston, Texas.
www.c3institute.us
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