Eyoomkuuka’ro Kokomaar – We Paddle Together 2024

Tara! Magbugsay ta!

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Dear Balik sa Dagat Bangka Journey Community and Friends,

Warm greetings. Maayong adlaw/hapon/gabii sa tanan.

Tara! Magbugsay ta! Eyoomkuuka’ro Kokomaar (We Paddle Together) Canoe Launch

June 15, 2024, Yelamu (aka San Francisco, California Aquatic Cove Park).

Ako si Mylene r.a.d. Leng Leng Amoguis Cahambing. Ako si enunja ti tatinmiji hataji. 

Special thanks to L Frank Manriquez – canoe beginnings via the Cultural Conservancy’s Guardians of the Waters program; many master carvers: George Porty Blake – Yurok, Wikuki Kingi – Maori, SFSU Native American students via Melissa Nelson, spiritual guidance by the late Dr Darryl Babe Wilson -Achumawi and Atsugewi, L Frank Manriquez – Tongva-Acjachemen 2-spirit elder who gifted the log that became this world bangka, Ethan Castro – Wailaki/Concow, Tek Tekh Gabaldon – Onatsatis, Philip H. Red Eagle – Salish-Dakota – co-founder Pacific Northwest Tribal Canoe Journey, initial Paddle to Swinomish invite via Diane and Shelly Vendiola – Swinomish- Bisayan, Mamerto Lagitan Tindongan – Ifugao Mumbaki, Baba Kasali Akangbe Ogun – Yoruban Master Shrine carver. Balik sa Dagat Bangka Journey’s (BSDBJ) lead carver, bùgsay dance lead: Alexis Canillo – Pomo- Cebuano, BSDBJ vision holder/blogger/lead coordinator – Peace Bangka Peace Canoe curriculum lead writer via NAPIESV National Org of Asians and Pacific Islanders Ending Sexual Violence Mylene Amoguis Cahambing aka r.a.d. Leng Leng – halo-halo urban Bisayan, Holly Calica – Ilocana Fil-Am, Grace Villarin Dueñas- Tagalog- Illonga queer, Baylan Megino – Fil-Am, Junice Uy – Cebuana, Nestor Leonida Perez aka Aku Dorje – Catanauan- Spanish-Tsinoy; grateful for Apu Reyna Yolanda Liban Manalo and 100+ indigenous Babaylan blessings from Luzon, Bisayas and Mindanao.

Grateful for the many hands who built Bangka together including Santa Rosa Fil-Am communities, Leny Strobel and CFBS Center for Babaylan Studies community. Champoy’s lead in getting bangka out of Santa Rosa to Yelamu. Kapwa Medicine Circle via Camille Santana. And to so many more builders and supporters (forgive us as not all names are listed here but we love you all! ~ mabuhay tanan!

It is an honor to be on the unceded lands and waters of xučyun (Huichin), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people, the successors of the sovereign Verona Band of Oakland, California in Alameda County.

It is an honor to be invited to Paddle to Swinomish 2011, my kayumanggi hands are held up to the skies to mga kababayan natin, mga halo-halo indi-pinays/indi-pinoys-x. Daghang salamat sa tanan.

It’s been a tremendous honor and a great privilege to be in service to this incredibly diverse World Bangkanihan-building community. Since its inception ~ in 2011 as its Volunteer Bangka Dream Weaver-Coordinator, it has been a beautiful privilege to witness Indigenous resilience despite the multiple challenges as an all-volunteer community-building effort that has produced monumental *living dreams exhibitions and programs, and especially to my bangka-journey heart’s dream, our Peace Bangka Peace Canoe NAPIESV-funded curriculum process.

I give many thanks to MONSOON Asians and Pacific Islanders in Solidarity, as our initial fiscal sponsor via Mira Yusef, and to all of my teachers and indigenous elders who said, ‘Yes.’ Most of all to Philip H. Red Eagle who asked: “Where is the Filipino canoe?” I give thanks to all who helped build this World Bangka with their hands, babaylan guided prayers, a 2-spirit gifted red western cedar log, our kollective rainbow dreams, and your continued and expanding support; and to those who will make their dream power búgsay and dream power paddle onward as a significant part of disrupting and dismantling colonial structures and heal by reconnecting-connecting with ancestral water practices, through loving, caring and sharing in unity and harmony, and much respect to many who continue to uphold their ancestral seafaring ways and practices. 

It comes with tremendous gratitude to share this as my final blog entry as I transition out of my role as Bangka Journey’s initial Balik sa Dagat coordinator/facilitator and social media content creator:

www.bangkajourney.com,

IG Baliksadagatbangkajourney, and

Facebook Bangka Journey 

and continue as a fellow artibista and advisor (upon consult) to Bangka Journey’s volunteers.

I am grateful to pass this on to kollective hands and look forward to witnessing World Bangka’s growth in its efforts to bring visibility and recognition to diverse seafaring practices, to continue to fulfill its dream of singers and dancers in a fleet of canoes to heal Earth. And now you all, consider what is your relationship to indigenous communities where you are?  How are you contributing to indigenous causes?

Tara! Magbugsay ta! Padayon.

Mabuhay.

Patnubay. Pagibig. Pagpapala.

Photos and video taken by Sam Estrada. Thank you, Sam.