A vision to fulfill a dream of singers and dancers in a fleet of bangka, tule canoes and ti’tiiatam on the bay waters to heal Earth.
Mission Statement:
Balik sa Dagat Bangka Journey builds and heals our communities by connecting to our cultural practices and our natural world.
Balik sa Dagat Bangka Journey is a creative and collaborative journey towards a more sustainable and healthy future.
We are fiscally sponsored by Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa, MONSOON.
Your tax-deductible donations are greatly appreciated.
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Balik sa Dagat (return to the sea) ~ Bangka (canoe) Journey entails the healing of our connection with our natural world. It is the canoe that literally and spiritually connects us with the land and forests as we take the trees and bamboo that will form our intentions. It is the canoe that connects us to the element of water and a renewed consciousness of our waterways; rivers lakes, oceans etc. It is the process of building the canoe that connected family – community – culture.
It is the canoe that embraced the many aspects of science and technology in the construction and function as well as celestial navigation. It is more than evident that modern culture has lost the vital connection with nature in a brutal display of selfishness and abuse.
The dire state of the global forests and waterways and the diversity they sustain is the result. If we are to survive we must alter the paradigm of greed and destruction with a renewed understanding of connection and respect for cultural and biological diversity. Balik sa Dagat ~ Bangka Journey can be a vehicle of healing ourselves and healing the earth in creative and collaborative ways by building our consciousness of connection to culture, history, community and crucial contemporary issues. It can be a way of navigating our way to a more sustainable and healthy future.
~Alexis Canillo, Pomo/Coast Miwok-Cebuano~~~~~~
GOAL: to create space where community is able to safely experience a healing process i.e. from trauma.
Initially inspired by the theme of “Loving, Caring and Sharing” at the Paddle to Swinomish 2011 tribal canoe journey experience, Balik sa Dagat ~ Bangka Journey supports the belief that when you get in the bangka, one is to be one in mind, body and spirit.
Balik sa Dagat ~ Bangka Journey (BSDBJ) uses Cultural Development activities to engage the community in research about building a watercraft and paddles, and water related issues.
BSDBJ advocates a drug and alcohol free policy during building and journeying both in and out of the bangka. We provide hands-on innovative training sessions on carving, craft-making, poetry, music and dance and the integration of ceremonial honoring of our Waters and the vessel that transport us across waters.
BSDBJ is a group of Filipinos/Filipino-Americans/x, halo-halo – mixed heritage folkx and with the Indigenous Peoples of the Pacific Northwest, specifically California and Washington State, who gathered to assist each other in revitalizing the cultural heritage and traditions necessary for healing as individuals, family and community members.
~~~~Mylene ‘Leng Leng’ Amoguis Cahambing and Holly Calica.
artwork donated by arlene chiqui guerrero – contact (808)620-2433