Preserving the culture and traditions of the Matigsalog tribe of Manobo People

Project Site: Malabog, Paquibato District, Davao City, Philippines

Project Beneficiaries: Members of six Matigsalog Communities

Project Proponent: Missionaries of the Assumption Indigenous Apostolate, Davao City, Philippines

Total Project Cost : $2,100.00

Beneficiaries Counterpart: $500.00

Total Amount Requested: $1,600.00

Project Duration: One (1) year – January 2012-January 2013

PSGMF Coordinator: Dr. Gary King

Part A

Document, recording and compilation of the stories/legends

and folktales of the Matigsalog tribe in Malabog, Paquibato district.

The one incharge of the implementation of the project shall ask the cooperation of the teachers teaching in two (2) elementary schools in the area managed by the Missionaries of the Assumption to help gather and document stories/legends and folktales from the elders of the communities. The result of their work will be put into writing and make a draft of what they have gathered and subject for validation and editing. The following activities and time frame must be followed.

Request money for transportation, supplies and reproduction of the final product.

Time frame	ACTIVITIES	Person Incharge
Jan-Feb 2012	Organizing the teachers & Pupils	Sisters & Teachers
March-May	Gather the elders men & women for sharing their stories	IPA Coordinators & Teachers
June - September	Documentation/Recording Compilation	IPA Coordinators & Teachers
October-November	First Draft/Validation	Teachers/Sisters and some members of the communities
December	Editing	Teachers/Sisters and some members of the communities
January	Final Draft & Binding/Printing	Project Incharge
February	Reporting	Project Incharge

I.

Part B

Improve the sewing skills of women through sewing their own tribal dresses and teach their children the same skills.

The women leaders of the communities shall ask for volunteers from among those who know how to sew their native dress. They are the ones who shall teach the women and men to sew their tribal dress. From among the volunteers, they shall be tasked to help the teachers to teach the children in the school on the arts of sewing and develop the skills to do it themselves eventually. In the end, whatever finish product they would have they can sell them in order to help their families andalso to continue the project which they have started. This is the planned activities.

Request -- 2 foot operated sewing machines plus supplies

Time frame	Activities	Person Incharge
January - February	Gathering of women and selection of volunteers orientation given to them.	Women leaders with IPA Coordinator
March-April	Volunteers teach other women to sew after a thorough orientation	Women Leaders with IPA Coordinator
May-November	Actual Work and Women leaders supervise the work and help in the actual work. -Some women to teach with the children in school.	Women leaders with IPA Coordinator
December-January	- Display of the finish Product at their tribal house. - selling them to visitors and Exposurists - Reporting	Leaders Women Volunteers IPA Coordinator

Background / Rationale

The center of Paquibato district is Barangay Malabog which is in Davao City. Davao City is in the Southern part of Mindanao, which is also home to the many tribal groups among whom are the Matigsalogs of the Manobo origin. Malabog is more or less 65 kilometers North of Davao City, taking mostly of mountainous areas bordering Lasang Parish of Davao City and Panabo parish of Davao del Norte.

Going to Malabog, one has to take a jeepney ride, which would take several hours including the waiting time for passengers as this public transport would not go until it is filled to the brim, including the top portion of the vehicle. If, however, one is hurrying, one could take a single motorbike to travel through dirt road that has loose gravel all throughout the way. Travel is especially dangerous during rainy days, when the road becomes slippery.

The six communities or areas where the Missionaries of the Assumption (m.a.) work are far from the Malabog center. The Missionaries of the Assumption worked with the Indigenous people of Matigsalog tribe since 1989. They helped and worked with the communities of the Matigsalog in their capacity building, health and sanitation, literacy numeracy, education and livelihood. The members of the Missionaries of the Assumption faced the difficulty of travelling from the city to the areas and finally in1990 they decided to permanently live with the people in the area.

Most women and mothers are unemployed in these communities. They are the ones most affected because of culture and tradition of the Matigsalog tribe especially on gender relations within the tribal community. There are customary practices among the tribes that affect the women tremendously.

Meanwhile, most children can only finish elementary grade or not at all. To reach high school is exceptional among the Lumad children, more so with a college education. That is why, the Missionaries of the Assumption congregation established Grade Schools in two areas populated by the Matigsalogs hoping that we can give basic education to the children. However, the rest of the areas have no school for basic education.

There are so many concerns that the indigenous people arefacing at the moment. One is the need to continually help them in their continuing education and livelihood. Because several women are unemployed and mostly work in tilling their small farm lots, there is a need to harness their energy and provide them with work like sewing their lumad dresses. In this way, they will be able to sell the finish product to other lumad communities. Not only that they will be able to teach their children the skills. Sewing their dresses is not easy for it needs arts and skills to do it because it is very intricate.

Another need is to preserve their stories/legends and folktales so that they young ones shall be able to know and learn the stories of their ancestors and appreciate their history and who they are./ By this, they will not lose their identity. Doing this, it needs the help of other people. The community leaders who saw the need asked the help of the teachers and Sisters to help them document and compile their stories for the benefit of the younger generation. This can be used by the teachers in classroom instructions in their own schools in Malabog as well as in other neighboring schools and other educational institutions.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

The project shall be managed by the Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Apostolate (IPA) with the council of elders of the said community. They shall monitor the implementation as well as make the evaluation with all those concern. They shall make the evaluation and report it to the funder at the end of the project implementation.

SUSTAINABILITY

The council of elders, the women leaders with the IPA Coordinator shall help sustain the projects by their constant monitoring on the way they handle the projects especially the financial side of it. The sales of the books and the dresses will be used to make the continuity and sustainability of the projects that they had started.