Multimedia: Someone Else’s Treasure – Kisluyan
(Watch in High Definition on Vimeo)
High in the mountains of the Philippine island of Mindoro, members of the Alangan tribe live in the village of Kisluyan, on the same land their ancestors have lived on for generations.
Kisluyan is one of 26 indigenous villages that face the threat of displacement by the Mindoro Nickel Project, a proposed open pit nickel mine on their ancestral land.
The Alangan are one of eight indigenous tribes in Mindoro, known collectively as the Mangyan. The Mangyan once occupied the whole island. As more and more settlers began moving to the island, the Mangyan were gradually pushed off the more fertile areas higher and higher into the mountains. Now, with the proposed mine threatening to push them off their mountain, they are left with nowhere to go.
For the Alangan, their land is the very foundation of their identity. Generation after generation, the Mangyan have been taught to care for the land; “we take care of the land, and the land will take care of us.” Many of them believe that disaster will befall them if their sacred lands are desecrated by the proposed nickel mine.
Someone Else's Treasure - Kisluyan
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Kim Leduc
Hi Allen,
Your pictures are beautiful as well as moving.I cannot recall the last time that I have seen so many images, of so many happy, relaxed, smiling kids at play.
Would it be possible for you to tell the kisluyan people that they are the rich ones . We the people of “wealthy” nations, for the most part suffer from a deep poverty of spirit which prevents us from recognizing or even being interested in, the interdependence of all things; the disasterous impact that our choices as consumers and investors often have on people “half a world away” or even right under our noses; how our busy, fast, materialistic, consumer driven lives negatively impact our relationships with our children, ourselves, each other and the environment.We are indeed poor.
Oct 04, 2010 @ 13:35