Pastoral & Solidarity Visit Reflection by Susannah Hong

Right now as I sit here and think back to my trip to the Philippines last July, I am remembering standing sockless, in wet shoes that are quickly drying in the hot sun, a cart rolling by slowly, piled high with boiled peanuts, unending trails of steam rising from the heap (much more delicious than that might sound), and the excited buzz of the people all around me holding up banners, signs and umbrellas that not long ago were used as pathetic shields from a sudden and what to me, was a mighty rainstorm, now being used to shelter sweating heads from a sweltering sun.  And I am feeling what might be joy. There is only one day left before our trip is over and we are at a giant mobilization to counter the annual State of the Nation Address or SONA given by president Aquino. The people have gathered by the thousands to march and to make known the true of state of the nation of the Philippines.

We are a good distance away from the stage, but we can see and hear the speakers- representatives from each sector as they come up one by one to report and give witness to injustice, to unspeakable atrocities and also to the growing resilience in each person there. The whole thing is in Tagalog and under any other circumstance, I would be totally lost, unable to understand the language, but the past 9 days have been an intense whirlwind of immersion with these people and the different sectors. Our hosts had put in great efforts in making sure we were able to meet as many different people groups who lives are directly and constantly endangered by the capitalist endeavors of the rich few and in power. We marched with these people and were excited to recognize some familiar faces as the migrant workers and the women’s groups and the LGBT group went by us, or the factory workers huddled under store canopies during the brief but crazy rainstorm, or the farmers crouching down on the concrete to eat their lunches unloaded from trucks and Jeepneys (old military jeeps decorated in countless, sometimes whacky ways and re-purposed for public transportation). Though a handful of us had no mastery of the Filipino language, we all knew what was being said up on that stage. The people invited us into their space, tirelessly and generously shared their stories with us in great detail, and allowed us to be able to stand in solidarity with them on that last day.

I think what I felt that day was joy. The joy that comes from knowing that even people who have suffered and continue to experience loss over and over again can be so full of hope and determination and love.  I guess joy is the feeling that comes with the hope of liberation. It replaces fear and stuckness and isolation. This is what was shared with me and what I brought back with me from the Philippines, an unyielding belief in the struggle, the people, and impending liberation for all people everywhere.

One Month Later

It's crazy to think that just a little bit more than a month ago, that we had the opportunity to visit the Philippines and explore the various ways that human rights were being violated by the government at large and how the land of my ancestors was continually plundered and subverted.

Though the situation is dire, the people continue to fight and resist against the forces that seek to oppress them. The call for peace and justice rings out from the mountains of Mindanao, to Jinamoc Island, to the prisons of Camp Bagong Diwa. People of all backgrounds and ages continue to struggle in order to find this justice and to organize together in order to achieve this.

I think back to days of teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School and how children are taught to let "the light of Jesus" shine in their lives. Now it is our task as the delegates of the PSV to let Jesus' vision of justice and peace for all people to shine, in solidarity with the people of the Philippines.

From California, to Palestine, to Ferguson, to the Philippines. "We know we can, show solidarity."

"Reverse" Culture Shock

If you come across an article, a photo, a post on Facebook of injustice that disturbs you... Good - You have a heart. You have your humanity.

If that discomfort or disturbance triggers in you the fight or flight response, take a moment to resist flight, to sit with what you’re feeling that it may move you to fight. To fight injustice. To fight harm. Because something inside you has woken up to recognize injustice as wrong.

Because it means that you’ve been able to feel for/with others outside of yourself, outside of your family, even outside of your country. You’ve been able to find kin in the “other.” This is an act of self-care, of health, of wholeness to be able to allow yourself to be human, to allow your heart to beat for someone Jesus would call your neighbor, to allow yourself to feel indignation, to allow yourself to feel connected to a community bigger than your understanding and imagination, to allow your being to feel that transformative fire within, even for a moment.

If we feel out of place coming back, it is a normal symptom that says the veil of ego and individualistic comfort bred from imperialism has been lifted from our eyes. Our vision can no longer be one of complacency or status quo or even hopelessness.

These are the foundations of being a participant in God’s collective salvation for all people. It’s more than intellectual belief or knowledge. And it’s nothing less than the movement of the fire of the people.

May the reality that has been revealed to our group continue to beckon us to act and to stay connected to the struggle that brings peace to all of God's people and God's Creation.

Land=Life, Life=Land

"Land is Life" is a phrase that is often repeated in the Philippines. The soil and earth of the Philippines, coupled with its climate, is among the most fertile land on the planet, able to sustain a wide variety of crops.  Since agriculture makes up the lives of many Filipinos and has been a staple in many communities for hundreds of years, the phrase takes on a more literal meaning.

The land is able to sustain humanity because it is alive. The land itself is a community that is rich in diversity, energy, and beauty. By consuming and treating the land like a toy for humans to play with and then discard, we are unknowingly leading to our own extinction. As inhabitants of the planet, we must not try and dominate but rather collaborate and improve our relationship with Earth. Not just for the good of our families, but for the sake of humanity and the others that we would otherwise doom to extinction.

Climate Justice is not just an issue of science, it is an issue of justice. The poor are continually pushed out and marginalized by ruthless capitalist expansion. Community leaders and environmentalists are met not with words of peace, but with bullets. By consuming and discarding land, humanity faces the destruction of whole communities in favor of huge empires that will inevitably collapse due to a huge lack of resources.

God did not just create humanity. Animals, plants, and other organisms of different sizes and shapes were created as well. By subverting and treating the living Earth as a plaything, humanity has unknowingly caused more destruction to the planet than any other living being that existed in Earth's billions of years of history. As Christians, it is our job to live sustainable lifestyles and to fight the injustices that plague the living land. It starts with ourselves, and it starts with our communities.

Justice for Earth.

2013 Pastoral Solidarity Trip

Youth and their Role in the Movement

The above video comes from Anakbayan-USA National Training. Since the weekend retreat was hosted in San Francisco, we had the opportunity to mobilize on the Philippine Consulate building. Protesting multiple recent political happenings including Typhoon Haiyan relief, the pork barrel scandal, and the political killing of activists, including Freddie Ligiw. Youth and students are often dismissed as lazy, ungrateful, and self-centered. In a movement for justice, however, the youth and students are characterized by their ability to "be bold and daring" and their energy in mobilization.

Serve The People. Words that echo not only in AB-USA's mission, but should also be words that Christians should live by. Jesus told his followers to serve those that need help, shouldn't we have the same conviction as Christians?

As we prepare for our trip, I hope to that my eyes, ears, and heart are opened to the Filipino people and to take what I will learn and apply it back to my work as a student and a Christian. Move for the Movement.

-Jordan Ilagan

Preparing for pilgrimage

In a few days I'll be starting my 8th trip to the Philippines. This will be my 5th hosted by NCCP and my 4th Pastoral & Solidarity Visit.

Throughout the year, since I started being the lead on these Visits, which has only been a of couple times, and as we get deeper into planning, I wonder if the trip will be my last. Not because of safety reasons, but because sometimes I forget what this trip means. I get caught up in coordinating, making it meaningful for others, recruiting others, helping others prep and assuring them. It's easy for my self to get lost in it.

Those hours waiting in other airports - from Seoul, to Taipei, to Tokyo - is when I begin to feel the reality of these visits. The reality of our responsibility as a delegation, the reality of the movement and what it means to immerse with the people. What it means to be a person of faith and how that manifests itself through this ministry.

Every year, I step off of that plane and the Manila air hits me. The heat and humidity clings to me and my skin reminds my spirit. I've landed. This is when I get to touch home and leave home at the same time. When my spirit opens to sacred journeying. To pilgrimage.

Some folks need a "Holy Land" to go to. These Visits have become such a vital part of my faith life. There, I visit the sites of prophets that have gone before. The mountains where meetings and battles were held, where messages of the struggle were passed. The shores where foreign serpents first slithered onto the body of the island. I meet, witness, and listen to modern-day prophets who tell me Mary, mother of Christ, gives them the strength to take care of their shrapnel-stricken children caught in the midst of US military "exercises" because their neighborhoods have become training grounds against so-called terrorism. I worship with disciples devoted to the reality of God's liberation and justice, even as some of them face threats for following a faith where God is on the side of the oppressed. I set foot where my own ancestors had set foot - from taking the jeepney down the roads my mom took to go to her high school, to standing in the pulpit at her pastor father's last church appointment, to walking the streets my dad walked to go to church where his singing voice was made strong.

Every time I go on pilgrimage, every time I raise my fist or my voice for the people of the Philippines, I bring my cloud of witnesses with me, remembering the Native American value that is mindful of seven generations behind and seven generations forward. That every time I engage in healing and wholeness in myself and my collective and my generation, I add a little bit of healing and wholeness to the generations after me. And to the generations before me.

Those generations that were raped by imperialist force and learned and perpetuated the corrupt governance of their colonial masters from Spain. Those generations that were harassed, tortured, and lost their lives when Japan occupied the islands. Those generations that fought alongside the US in hopes of bringing some semblance of sovereignty to the people. Those generations that felt their best option was voluntary displacement - to leave everything they knew behind, not able to be around when their loved ones became sick and passed away, navigating a country that would never fully embrace them or their children as their own without at least the cost of assimilation, mistaken identity, and superficial passing down of culture and food, if any. Those generations that found the faith that I profess, practice, and live.

When I make pilgrimage to the Philippines, it is a sacred act. I get to touch those spaces where the sacred touches the lives of those we would perceive to be hopeless, only to be refueled by their hopefulness, commitment, strength, and perseverance. It keeps me going when I return. It teaches me how to be a better Christian, a better organizer, which helps me be a better Pastor.

My prayer for this year's pilgrimage, this Visit, is the same as always - that hearts, eyes, minds, ears be opened in ways that help us to surpass the ego that we may recognize our place as active participants in God's collective light. That revolutionary spirits are watered, unfailing in love and service to the people. That Holy Spirit fire ignites, that Her militant wind blows, that the struggle to be beloved community continue on until we reach the generation that will know genuine peace as a result of wholeness and justice - shalom.

Long Live International Solidarity!