Why T'boli?

As I sit here on my flight to Cebu, contemplating the idea of having no expectations of anyone or any circumstance, I find the excitement for this trip has faded. For the next 23 hours, my entire experience will be sitting in these tiny seats, with a belief I will be unable to get comfortable enough to sleep well. I look forward to sleeping in Cebu, when I'm sure my excitement will grow back to normal again!

On my previous trip to Davao in April of 2018, I had been exposed to a little bit of the culture in that region, which seemed to pique my interest, though I had no idea in what. A couple months after my April adventure, I saw a video about the T'nalak Festival, which is an annual celebration of a traditional material made by the T'boli tribe from natural resources including plants, tree parts, and dyes derived from plants. The "wall hangings" are a sacred item made by these peoples, and has been for unknown years. I came across a video On Youtube regarding this craft and the people, and thought to myself, "interesting."

Some months later, I realized I was being called to meet them. Another video I watched touched a part of my soul that brought forth such beautiful emotion, there was no way I could not make this part of my life. I contacted people in the Philippines and began discussing the strength of the pulling with a few of the T'boli tribe. This is when I found out Melissa, from the Great Clarification, was one of them! I was elated. This was all falling together without any effort on my part, and I felt myself finally answering a calling for the first time in my life, as I will explain in a bit more detail in the following.



As time goes on, and the results of the Great Clarification continue to manifest, I have been opening up to possibilities. I have been paying more attention to my intuition, excessive coincidences, and anything else that might help me find that peace again.

In early December, I was at a remote job site in Valdez, Alaska. After work one night, in my hotel room, wandering around Facebook, I happened upon a video from the Philippines. I clicked on it, and was presented with the singing of Rosie Sula, whose video is linked below. The video was of Miss Philippines, Catriona Gray, sitting in a canoe on Lake Sebu. Before I even got to that part of the video, the sound of Rosie's singing struck me more deeply than I ever imagined someone singing could. Yes, I was crying. Why was I crying? 3 months later and I still don't know the answer to that! I asked myself in a mildly hysterical voice, while I was crying, "What is happening to me?" Of course, I answered myself! "I don't know!" Catriona says, in a loud voice, "Welcome to the land of the Dream Weavers!" That phrase struck me even harder than the beginning music! And, yes, I still don't know why. As Kyle Cease might appreciate, I am good with not knowing.



I found the video on Youtube, and looked at other videos of the T'boli tribe, and continued to cry off and on while I was learning about these people. They are known as the Dream Weavers because the patterns they weave into their T'nalak are inspired by their dreams. Now I understand the importance of the T'nalak Festival. This was a Calling! I had to meet these people!

I decided I would contact the only person I know who could help me figure this out. When Melissa finally answered my messages, I asked her about the T'boli tribe. "Would you believe I'm one of them?" Wow! I would have been a bit shocked if not for all the other things that seem to be connected in all this. My response was, "Well that makes a lot of sense!"

Our conversation was cut short, and I lost contact with her. My next step was to search on Facebook. I felt that I had to continue searching. I wasn't sure what for, just to continue. I found a page for another festival, the Ses'long Festival. This one was in March. I was not interested in the festival, though. I wanted to meet these people without being a tourist. I sent a message to the page with a short description of what I was experiencing and the person who answered suggested that I be there on March 15 to at least see the Miss T'boli pageant. The festival would end shortly afterward, and I could meet people without all the tourists. I was pretty darn excited when he responded! I think I ended up not getting to sleep that night until around 2 or 3 in the morning.

It amazes me how writing one email, contacting a complete stranger, can change so much in a persons life. This contact, through the Ses'Long festival page set me up to get tickets to the pageant! I was stoked! I might even get to be a photographer with VIP passes! I made a few more contacts in the T'boli tribe, and have been learning a lot about the culture as well as a little bit of the language. Everyone who I have contacted thus far has been very kind, open and willing to help. I am learning the language is quite different from Tagalog or Bisaya. Hearing the words spoken once again brought up a very strong emotional reaction from me. I had a strange thought pop into my head that seemed to come from someone else, but it was mine. "These are my People." Yeah, I don't understand that, either. Somebody told me that these feelings are the feelings you get when you want to go home. I responded that I had never actually been there. "It doesn't matter. Home."

I have connected with Rosie Sula, who was the singer in the video with Miss Philippines, and will be meeting her when I am there. This is going to be wonderful! This is what happens when I follow my heart instead of my head!

So, there you have it, a quick synopsis of why I absolutely must go meet the T'boli people. I'll be there soon!