How Kalinga Stole my Heart

“Where we Love is home,

home that our feet may leave,

but not our Hearts.”                           –Oliver Wendell Holmes

I remember the first time I met the ButBut tribe,  it was a quick trip of only 2 days to the village of Bugnay where we did prenatals and I was introduced to a completely new world.  I remember the harsh language and stern, serious faces.  I remember the mud and the dogs and pigs running everywhere.  I remember repeating over and over to myself, “This is like a dream. It’s like something out of a history book.”  I remember the stories about how Bugnay was once the headquarters for the New Peoples Army, the only group to fight against the Philippine army and win thus, preventing a dam from being built.  I learned about a tree where the jaws of pigs and possibly humans were hung to appease the spirits.  I met Horsan, the witch doctor, who despised most visitors and had attempted to kill many missionaries before.  I discovered that while the women’s tattoos were to make them more attractive, the men’s tattoos represented every person he had killed.  I remember seeing several men pass by our hut with M16s to protect those working in the rice fields.  I learned about the tribal wars.  However, what I remember most was falling in love with this wonderful tribe.  After we left, I went to work several hours away at a maternity clinic.  I heard news about how one of the women we had done a prenatal on had died shortly after giving birth.  I struggled to breathe.  When I could finally talk, I cried out, “but that’s why I am here, that’s why I’m a midwife, that’s why I chose this path.”  Had I stayed there in that village, I would have been there to assist her and possibly prevented her death.  Soon I found myself back in Bugnay.  We (my friend Georgia and myself) conducted health teachings and prenatals, built relationships, and allowed this tribe to completely steal our hearts.  For instance, one night we treated ourselves to spaghetti using some ingredients we had brought with us, soon people began bringing rice to us.  Filipinos eat rice with every meal and since we had not made it to go with our spaghetti they assumed we must be out and very hungry. They say “home is where the heart is.”   In that case, I am so glad I’ve finally returned home to Kalinga to help the people God has broken my heart for. 

I'm so excited to go to Bugnay again this weekend (: