7. Some Stories the Aetas will Tell The Pinatubo Family Education Programme in the Philippines aims at assisting indigenous, poor and mostly illiterate Aeta families that have been displaced by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, a volcano in central Luzon. The programme includes home-based and centre-based components and a parent education programme in early childhood development. The Effectiveness Initiative explored two major themes in its exploration of the programme: ‘families caring for children’ and ‘communities caring for children’. The team in the Philippines was unusual in that it was composed only of ‘insiders’: people who were closely involved in the programme or in the organisation running the programme.1 The Origin of the Aeta People and the Eruption of Pinatubo
Specialists debate precisely when and how the Aetas migrated to the Philippines.2 Many believe the original settlers used a land bridge to cross from the island of Borneo between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago and that, around 5,000 years ago, water covered the land bridge, leaving a remnant in the Philippines, the island of Palawan. Whatever the migration path was, the Aetas were among the first, if not the first inhabitants of the Philippines. They were hunter-gatherers. In many cases, they still use bow and arrow to hunt food and are among the most skilled anywhere on earth in jungle survival, but they have learned to use the slash-and-burn method to clear land and cultivate a variety of crops such as rice, corn, bananas, sugar cane, beans, root crops, tapioca and tobacco. Of the produce, only the surplus is sold for cash or used as barter with neighbours. Aeta men who know how to plough hire themselves out to local farm owners. In earlier times, these typically smallframed, dark-skinned and curly-haired people with black eyes lived throughout the islands. More recently, their traditional homes have been remote highland areas of Luzon, Mindanao, Negros, Palawan and Panay. One area of the country where the Aetas have lived for thousands of years is Mount Pinatubo, in central Luzon. The volcano had been dormant for about 500 years. In mid-June 1991, it erupted. Except for one Settling down to eat 1 The core of this summary is based on de los Angeles-Bautista et al. (2002). See also de los Angeles-Bautista (2001). 2 See The Peoples of The World Foundation (2003).
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‘I felt like it was the end of the world. I couldn’t see the sky. It was covered by thick black smoke, making it look like it was suddenly night-time. Then, when we started running away, it wasn’t rain falling, but sand and ashes. It really felt like the earth would suddenly cave in. Other mothers with me were all crying . . . .’ – Anita, from Kayanga