Healing through culture according to Jude

Six months after the strongest typhoon in recorded history hit, the needs have changed in Leyte. Healing has to be defined not just in the physical or basic but more of the emotional needs. Lakas Pilipino Lakas Natin was a workshop conducted for this type of healing last April at the Tierra De Milagros Resort in Palo, Leyte. Pinky San Andres and photographer/creative director Noel San Andres organized the project as a way for students and teachers to deal with their traumas brought by Yolanda. Palo Culture and the Arts Organization served as vital volunteer for the activity.

Apart from the seminars, Samsung Galaxy provided tablets so students were able to express themselves through a photography exercise. Teachers were also made to express their feelings through art by drawing using poster colors. Samsung Philippines Public Affairs head Arlita Narag said, “We would like to play a bigger role in that arena. Right now, there’s no grand strategy to get into that and we see the importance of playing a bigger role.”

Decades ago, Tacloban was a hotspot for culture. Joy Balagapo, a teacher from Sto. Niño SPED Center, said that the former First Lady Imelda Marcos was able to support arts and culture in Tacloban and Leyte National University. They had an arts center, a children’s choir, a dance group and a lot of opportunities to develop their talents, not only here but nationwide. They were frequently invited to the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) to sing and join in contests.

National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Committee on Visual Arts head Jose Alberto Tañedo said Lakas Pilipino Lakas Natin made the distinction between art therapy and what he calls the cultural path, “I don’t like the term therapy, although it’s used. Therapy is so clinical. It’s playing a big role in the rehabilitation of people because initially when you have trauma it’s a recurring thing. You have death, you have loss of property, you have people who were shocked from the event.”

“So art would play a very important role in relieving the stress in people’s minds,” continues Tañedo. “You have to take the place and background into account. When you say you’re going to do your healing through art, there has to be a very strict adherence to the cultural background of people. You can be effective in Mexico but when you bring it here, the same exact approach may not prosper. There are barriers, not just to the kind of healing but as to who administers them as well. There are different conditions and cultural backgrounds. That’s why a lot of aid groups with foreigners are having a hard time. First, they’re not familiar with the culture. Then, they look different. And then, they don’t speak the language.”

Whatever the solution, according to Tañedo, has to be more permanent, “The point is, it must be sustainable. In the cultural path, we are taking through their cultural foundations, we are making them aware of who they are. Your culture is rich but you just can’t say that outright and hammer that into their heads. There has to be a more effective approach. You make them do it, experience it, then you explain their culture.”

Differences are cultural and geographic. One doesn’t tell them things that are for Ilocos. That would be a different economic and political background. Tañedo believes that when one is aware of unique traditions and cultures of your home area, town and community, it builds pride of place. At the same time, the workshops conducted by Samsung also included its washing machines to provide free laundry. Lakas Pilipino managing director Pinky San Andres said, “The free laundry is one way of touching the community. More than anything is the relief and joy that you’re able to give them. I just want to share, we had 50 persons a day average. But each of them brought three months worth of labada.”

 Jude Bautista is a writer and photographer we often meet covering press conferences of various kinds. He is passionate about his job and would occasionally let off the steam through his blogs. Covering the Tacloban tragedy is something close to our hearts as we again recently reminisced. This time, we asked Jude to give us his views on another way of curing the trauma Tacloban has wrought.

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