First day of workshop and Cultural event

The first day of our official workshop went very well. Mostly, the organizations gave updates about the status of their programs and the kinds of challenges they were currently facing in their second year. I took a lot of notes, but it was very interesting to me because although they’re all related to value chains, each one has a distinct context and their work in the value chain different.

After the workshop was over, SDC Asia hosted a “cultural night” at an open-air bar near their office. When we got there we were greeted by little dancers and a drum band; they were about elementary school age and were in traditional dress. They performed for us and then grabbed us (me first, of course) and started trying to teach us to dance. It was really fun and very cute (a little awkward for some of us of course), but you couldn’t say no to the children. We ended up seeing 4 different dances, all of which were done by kids at a local school that compete at a country level; this school uses the song and dance classes as extracurricular activities. We also ate wonderful Filipino food consisting of everything from dried mango, banana chips, typical dinner dishes from Mindanao and two different kinds of rice deserts.

Towards the end of the night we chatted with the kids and took pictures with them. They were really excited to be performing for foreigners and when they realized we were taking pictures and videos, they were proud to know that we would be on their websites…they kept talking about myspace and “friendster” and wanting to be on my page. I was sorry to tell them that I didn’t have anything like that, but it almost inspired me to make a new page just for them =)

After the kiddies left, as well as some of the adults, a small group of us hung out with the SDC Asia office staff and drank wine and talked a while. This lead to conversations about how because Melissa and I were white, people were very excited to see us and they joked that they were using us as promotional material for the farmers we were going to see. They emphasized that being American was viewed as special and beautiful…it was nice to hear that, but it made me uncomfortable. Not that I don’t want to be viewed as exotic or whatever, but I started to feel like the white colonist. Maybe that’s just the sociologist in me, but I know it’s wrong for them to idolize us for being blond and blue-eyed. It was then that Marian said that was why the children were flocking to me first and trying to get me to dance. I may have been the first white person they had interacted with in real life. In the supermarket I went to a few days prior I noticed they sold a lot of products containing a bleaching element; things like deodorant and lotion all claimed to whiten your skin. Shit like that pisses me off and I don’t want to think that I’m contributing to it. Unfortunately, there’s nothing much I can do but smile and say thank you. I don’t have time to give a historical sociology class on how colonialism shaped the views of people in most countries and ingrained in their minds the idea that whiter is always better.

As you know, alcohol always leads to stranger behavior, and in this case it definitely did! I don’t know what exactly happened but one moment we were talking about Mani being a good dancer and the next moment the bar turned into a disco and there were flashing lights and techno music…then Mani’s dancing on a stage, then I’m getting pushed onto the stage, and then there are 10 grown adults on a stage dancing in a circle. Mind you, SDC Asia rented this bar, so there’s no one else in it. There are few passer-byers and one group of men watching us from a table—no on else. We all attempted swing dancing and “tribal techno,” as Mani called it, and it was quite embarrassing. I know someone took blackmail pictures. I had stopped drinking at that point, so I don’t really have a good excuse for acting like an idiot except that I was hanging out with Filipinos and they like to dance! Another thing they also like is Karaoke, which was our next unplanned activity for the evening. I told them that I don’t sing and yet, I found myself singing “Oops I did it again,” “Living on a Prayer,” and “Let’s get loud.” I don’t even like these songs!!!!! This is the power of Filipino people--they make everything so fun!

Finally, we called it quits and drove back to the hotel, singing “Material Girl” and “Like a Virgin” all the way and I crashed. Marie, I thought about you the entire night and how much I wished that I could have experienced these things with you. I know that the food and dance was of a different tribe and not from Manila, but I still thought about you. In a way, I feel like I understand your family a little better too!