Nagpana and the Atis tribe- Life's little gifts

The Atis People, Nagpana

After a fun filled night and a trip to the biggest mall in the Philippines, SM city, we decided to visit Katie and Nancy's school, John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University. The university is different than the one I work at, much more advanced but that comes when a university is privatized. WPU is a government university and its resources are very limited. The school invited Alicia and I to come on an outreach activity in Nagpana to visit an indigenous tribe called the Atis. The drive out in the Jeepney was an adventure in itself, it was raining, a man was squat out the back and holding on with one hand and all the while myself and my new Filipino friend Felix were singing Lady Gaga! We arrived to Nagpana and myself and the interns switched vehicles and the students followed in the Jeepney... we also had a police escort...interesting to say the least. We plowed our way up a washed out road up into the mountains where the tribe lives! The view was breath taking! I love the green of rice terraces and fields and the mountain jungle was beautiful! When we arrived we were introduced to the people (we had interpreters) and began a quality of life survey. The whole experience was incredible, these people have no electricity, live off of about 25 - 30 dollars a month and they still smile. All they wanted from the university is help improving quality of life for their families and to increase education and make for more sanitary living conditions. They sell some crafts to help make some money and it took everything I had not to buy everything they made! I wanted to give them everything I had and phone my family and tell them I love them. At one point when I met a women whose son has a disability and has not walked yet (he is 4) I nearly bawled! I kept it together though and reminded myself we are there for a good cause! We have these same problems back in Canada but there is more opportunities for people to improve their situation there, here these people did not want to lose their traditions they just want their families to be healthy and have a happy life. Incredible! Regardless to say I left a very grateful gal!