Museums in Mindanao
Bob and Mabagani, Thanks for the corrections, seems like every map I read has a different spelling for the town names and trying to keep up with baranguays was a full time task that I never mastered.
I had known of the museum at Marawi through this forum and it was the one stop I really wanted to make, unfortunately due to time constraints and political sensitivities I was not allowed access to the town of Marawi itself, maybe someday when I'm a civilian.
Magabani, you make good points about previous US involvement in Mindanao, I just gave a short class to my guys that are scheduled to rotate down there about the proud history of the Mindanao peoples and the complicated interactions of all the stakeholders down there. I can only hope that it prepares them to be sensitive to all sides of the issues that they will have to deal with. The trepidation of US involvement, due to past history, was evident in most conversations I had with local officials. My dearest hope and the goal of our involvement there is to help create stable economic development and convince everyone (local and AFP) that a government responsive to the needs of its people is a must regardless of who's in charge.
Of course I always threw in references to the incomparable craftmanship found no where else in the world, in the hopes that the old traditions and weapons will not die out.
I found in all my conversations that the history I learned through this forum and simply knowing the correct terms for things immediately elevated my credibility both with the locals and the AFP. Thank you all for that.
Dan
|