BLOG #12 BINHI OUTPUT
Reflect on your immersion experience.
Personally, I live close to the area where we conducted the Binhi Area Engagement and I never thought to see the day how the place transformed to. I live in Navotas and the Area Engagement was conducted in Tondo specifically in the compound where the PAPEL Women Weavers stayed. Since I was a kid, I could remember how the place smelled so bad and the mountain of trash or the Smokey Mountain as they call it, stands firmly with people’s houses standing beside it. If the smell was horrible enough when you pass by it, imagine the experience that people have gone through just to have a place to live in. Immersing ourselves in such set-up is really a humbling experience because we get to talk to women who are members of a rehabilitated community who themselves have not so much stuff to give, yet they still chose to help the community out. Even if Sir Rafi has been repeatedly saying that the women there were mothers, we saw other members who themselves were in their youth and one was still working there to have money for her studies. Despite the negative stories regarding the place, it was still fulfilling enough to be there and share a moment and even a meal with the women in PAPEL. It was quite a humbling experience to dine with them after working on our outputs, because we could hear them laughing and sharing more stories about their experiences to us as if we were like their kapwa or kaibigan.
How are the habitus of the communities different and/or similar from yours? What forms of capital are valued in their field?
The community is known to have a bad notion where drugs and dealers are everywhere because there had been stories told that there were people shot dead during the night time just because of the drug war. Moreover, the community itself had a bad reputation because of the Smokey Mountain and how it affects the way people were living in the area. However, there are also positive sides to their community because it has been a rehabilitated place where there is no longer trash, but more space for people to decently live in. All of this was different from the peaceful community and a bit more functional place that we live in. It is where people live in a better environment not haunted by the looming danger of the war on drugs. They look at us with high regard despite my personal state somewhat closer with their own rather than what they perceive Ateneans to be. It is similar in the way we consider hard work as a necessary capital for living and surviving every single day. The women in PAPEL told us of the nitty-gritty stuff about making their beads and strips using magazines in-order-to create their wonderful works. In the same case, our household values hard work as the foundation to everything that one dreams of achieving. No matter the physical strengths and weaknesses, nothing else is a match to a person who is hard working.
What were your thoughts and feelings while you were in a field that is different from yours? Why do you think so?
To be completely honest, the thoughts and feelings that I heard from the other participants are the type that I wasn’t glad to hear. I genuinely want to learn more about the place and how people in there are doing. I love immersing with people who are on the other end of my reach, for I get to learn more about what they are experiencing and perhaps get an insight on how they get to live their lives in a case to case basis. It is important to be able to connect with other people like them because it gives me a sense of being grounded and a feeling of unity among the people in the community. What I kind-of expected to hear from my fellow batchmates was there, yet I didn’t have the time and effort to lecture them about what they said. I think they did not see the relevance of the whole Binhi Project to their daily lives. It may be a bit reasonable because I know how the college schedule is too hectic to even bother a soul from a routine. However, I just hoped that we were able to impart a bit of help towards the women in PAPEL because I saw how they were happy and eager enough to help us in creating works. Given a chance, I would like to extend such experience because they were really very accommodating and kind enough to teach us about what they learned for years and considered as their source of living.
Is it possible to bridge the gap between people from different habitus? Based on your own experience, how can it be done?
Yes, it is possible to bridge the gap between the different habitus of people. The greatest example it this Area Engagement where us students that come from different types of habitus, schemas and dispositions get to experience something that is closer to what people of today are experiencing. This whole experience had been an eye-opener which could open-up possibilities that may help in the development of the community or that of the person experiencing the engagement. If one is open-minded enough to see the realities that are existing today, it may as well bring change to the community and how people perceive them. Furthermore, a dialogue and immersions like these help people become more connected and more aware of the different aspects that affect their community nowadays. In the end, everyone is just in the same plane of living and social status is not that important when having such interactions, but it would greatly affect the way people get to help out those in need.