Eneriza Menaling
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This African proverb has a big impact on me. While it is true that as a young person, I can reach my dreams by myself, these dreams will remain only for the self. But if I, with other young people, dream big for our community, and be a united generation to face the challenges, we can go far.
Working together as Indigenous youth to keep our culture alive so that it flourishes as well as the environment (which includes us, the land of our ancestors, and our identity), will strengthen us as we reach for our dreams.
During the Dialogue with Collaborators on Synodality and Synergy for the Formation of Young People in Asia: Inspiring Hope and Inclusion on 9 to 11 February 2025 organized by the Institute of Formation, Fondacio Asia (IFF Asia) in Tagaytay City, Philippines, what struck me most were the table conversations on Indigenous Peoples.
The three-day dialogue gathered more than 50 representatives from various Church institutions and civil society groups across 10 Asian countries and as a Pulangiyēn youth, I connected deeply with the sharing and encouragement to pursue my dreams, and to be proud as well of who I am as an Indigenous person.
With other Indigenous participants, we shared the same dreams and desires in forming the youth with a vision of hope and to sustain our gaup (ancestral domain).
We seek to live the culture despite the technological influences and the economy of consumption that sometimes suggest that we cannot be happy in life unless we have many things and everything.
Although there are not many young people in this dialogue, we can continue and extend this collaboration to overcome the challenges to enable us live peacefully and simply, sharing the values and meaning in our daily relations.
When we care and protect our gaup, the forest, water, and cultural practices, the forest grows and the culture flourishes and we as a people are cared for and protected. It is through our culture and gaup that we find our sense of belonging and a sense of who we are. “If we care and protect our ancestral domain and culture, our gaup will care for and protect us as Pulangiyēn.”
In the small group discussions, I shared about our activities, the workshops and training programs that we organize in Balay Laudato Si’ (BLS), a culture and ecology house that “welcomes everyone to come and share their culture, hopes, and experiences in reflecting on Laudato Si’.” These activities are programs that help young people to be formed and to better understand their identity, culture, and life in the gaup.
- The recent meeting with the Integral Ecology Ministry in the Diocese of Malaybalay (in Bukidnon, Philippines) with Father Reynaldo Raluto’s team. We exchanged ideas and experiences that integrate the Basic Ecclesial Community (BEC) in relation to the gaup.
- Finishing our admissions processing for the Jesuit Worldwide Learning (JWL) professional programsthat offer different courses. I enrolled as a learning facilitator so I can develop my skills in teaching and speaking English.
- A Tapok (youth gathering) that includes a workshop on Inculturation, Synodality, and Integral Ecology that can help young people reflect on how they can work together and share a vision of community.
- A workshop to develop the academic curriculum for agroecology and assisted natural regeneration (ANR) of our forest that can affirm our culture and land use practices.
What I appreciated most in the IFF Asia dialogue was seeing the efforts to reach out to us, the youth, in seeking new venues and options to be together even if it is not easy to engage with the diversity and to be open to all our problems and distractions.
I listened to various strategies being explored to engage with the youth. One of these is the effort to make us feel that we are part of this program, and we are the priority. This recognizes the fact that if the youth can relate with the program, the youth can gradually engage until we understand our identity, the purpose of our growth to become leaders to help our community, and to strengthen our cultural identity alongside faith.
I felt the words and messages from the dialogue participants telling me not to give up and to work towards and contribute to greater youth formation for leadership of our future. I am happy to be more encouraged to find my voice with heart and hope, to go forward and do what is needed to help and engage the others in my community as a Pulangiyēn youth.