Love has always been everybody’s need. Everyone seeks to experience the real meaning behind this one powerful word. This four-letter word perhaps had been the most exploited word and had been given much of diverse definitions. One would say that love is selfless; it is best spelled as T-I-M-E not L-O-V-E; it is unconditional; it is sacrificial. All of these are true especially the last two definitions which fit to the kind of love that God have given us. In my search for the meaning of love, I never thought I would encounter it in a place and a time that seems to be far beyond expectation.
God’s words can sometimes be perplexing. His statement of loving our neighbor as we love our self may be easy to understand and accomplish but when He said that we should love our enemies then that is a paradox. At my first encounter of this avowal, it’s not just that I don’t understand why but it’s more of how can it be done?
Being born in Mindanao, Philippines, I have seen all the conflicts between religions of Islam and Christianity. I have grown up with the idea that Christians and Muslims are adversaries. Being a Christian, I have been biased to defend my own belief and viewed the Muslims in one way or the other as an enemy. There was even a point of time during my younger days that I have equated them as rebels and vandals; that every bombing is to be blamed on them. It was then when hatred crept in my heart towards them even though I don’t have the personal experience of this alleged violence that has been associated to them. It’s more of an influence from what I heard on TV and what others said.
I remember it was in my highschool when I had my first Muslim friend. She was a classmate and eventually became a groupmate. That means we sometimes have to meet with some other groupmates in their house for a project. I have noticed that she was not the same as the Muslim that I visualized in my mind. She’s definitely a good person. But still that is not much of a help though to change my perceptions on them. As years went by, I had more experiences with the Muslims both good and bad but still the ideations that had been inculcated in my mind did not change. It was not until I had been given the opportunity to have a firsthand encounter with them.
The story starts here. I am a nurse but I don’t work in the hospital. I work as a teacher for the nursing aspirants to prepare them for the board exams. Basically, my work requires travelling which gives me the opportunity to travel to different places and meet different kinds of people in different areas. There’s this one day that I received an invitation to have a lecture in Jolo, Sulu, Philippines.
For those who do not know, let me give a brief background of how most of the people view this place. If you will look at the map, Jolo, Sulu is located at the southernmost part of the Philippines. The media often reports news about Jolo. And these news often relays bombings, kidnappings, wars, rebels, and murder. These have always been the words associated with Jolo. When I received the invitation, there was a sudden moment of hesitation as to whether go there or not. However, I did go.
The moment I stepped down the plane and upon my first step in the land, the first things that I have noticed are the people wearing clothes different than what I wear and the dialect which is different than mine and obviously I can’t understand. It was then that a sudden feeling of fear and anxiety came as to my security and safety is concerned. Good thing that there was this teacher (I choose not to mention any names for I have not asked permission from them), who from our first meeting showed a nice smile with a dose of hospitality, came to fetch me from the airport to the house where I will be staying. When I arrived at the house, it was somehow a relief on me to know that there are also Christians like me who lived there. That gave me the encouragement. They even assured me that I will be safe. I actually arrived at Notre Dame College 12:45 pm and I still have my class at 1:00 pm. I ate my lunch, washed up, dressed up and went to class.
The first day of discussion was fun. The students have cooperated and somehow we have established a good relationship. The following day, the fun is increasing more in the intensity and the friendship and bonding and closeness has reached to better level than it was on the first day. They even made a fool out of me as to the Lion statue in their provincial capitol and I called them as the Class Dupang (meaning crazy in English). They actually even laugh everytime I call them dupang because I told them that they are like me. I must say that in that time, we had established a good relationship. In fact I have been receiving emails and invitations in facebook for me to be their friends when I left.
I thought it would end there until I received a call one day that I have another schedule in Jolo and this time it will be in a new school (Sulu State College). After that call, I received another call from the teacher inviting me to be the speaker of their seminar as requested by the students. It was flattering in my part because they could have chosen somebody else yet it was me that they wanted. I accepted it without any second thought.
I arrived in Jolo the second time and got the chance to wander around the town and have seen how busy it was especially the market. This time is different from the first time I came because I had a personal experience of an explosion not so far from the place where I’m staying that it even shake the house like an earthquake and succeeded by exchange of fires. Worries then popped out of my mind and I really wanted to leave the morning of that day but I chose to stay for the students. The morning came and everything seems like a normal day. I went to Sulu State College; had my lecture; and received the same warm welcome by the students. All the appreciations and the expressions of love (both verbal and nonverbal) I have received. It was honestly overwhelming! The welcome was awesome; the hospitality was evident; and the love by the students was unbelievable. It was unbelievable because the students from both schools have loved me and even looked up to me despite the reality that we are of different religions – the religions that I thought before were adversaries. I even received letters from the students saying that they love me and some thanking me because I inspired them. These are compliments that cannot be bought by any amount of money especially that you can see the sincerity from these people.
One of the letters I received from the students is from a group called KOLEGGS and it was written in their own dialect that I have to have someone to interpret it for me. And I quote:
“Anduh laong sir misan mga kaw iyabutan sin pagbustak di kamo, mura-murahan magbalik da kaw, ayaw kaw mangluga-luga!!! Magsukul Sir…! Mangandul kaw kamo na dih namo kaw kalupahan sir…!”
The interpretation to this would be:
“Dear Sir, even though you have witnessed the explosion and commotion when you came here, we hope you will still be coming back and never get tired of coming so!!! Thank you Sir…! Trust in us that we will never forget you…!”
Who could ever fail to be thankful of such acceptance and love? This same group even asked me that after having a personal experience with the life in Jolo, what will I tell the people back in my place about Jolo? One thing that really left a mark in my heart was the act done by one of the male students. Everybody has left already while I was packing my things up when this one student waited for me. When I was finished,he approached me to shake my hand and I was shocked because he really held my hand with his two hands for a while and then smelled his hands deeply as if my hands smell so good that he wants to smell it through his hands that have shaken mine and then put his hands in his heart. I almost cried with that act. When I arrived at the house, I asked for the meaning of it and they said that it means respect and true acceptance. They even added that Muslims don’t often do that. They will only do that to people who gained their trust and they love. And thinking that it was a male who did it adds up to the enormity of the respect shown. I was even humbled more that the deans of both schools will really take time to contact me and ask how I was especially the dean of the school where I am staying will always go to my room at the end of the day to check me and ask me how my day was and will then bring me food to eat. This is such an act of kindness and caring.
On my last day there was the seminar. While I was going to the venue, I was met by the dean and she personally accompanied me to the place and when we arrived there, I received the warmest welcome with the traditional Muslim medallion and the applause from everybody present in the area. The seminar was great and successful. So I went back to the house to rest and pack my things for my flight the following day. But before the day ended, the students visited me to my room and we had some moments of laughter.
Indeed things happen at times that we will not expect. I never thought I could laugh and feel real love and acceptance towards the people that I once thought to be my adversaries. My perceptions on these people have been changed. This is an experience of a lifetime and thus compelled me to write this to tell everybody that MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS ARE NOT ADVERSARIES BUT BROTHERS. If even in that short period of time that I stayed in Jolo, I was able to love my Muslim brothers and sisters and they have loved me even more, then that can also be possible to everybody else. We just have to clear and clean up our minds with the old deception. I do believe that MUSLIMS AND CHRISTIANS ARE CREATED TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER.
And to the KOLEGGS question as to what will I tell my people back home about what Jolo is, my answer is simply this:
“JOLO IS NOT A LAND OF DESTRUCTION BUT A PLACE OF DIVERSE CULTURE INHABITED BY REAL PEOPLE WITH A GREAT WAY OF EXPRESSING THE TRUE AFFECTION AND LOVE.”
As long as God will give me the opportunity to go back to this place, I will never hesitate to come back. My twelve hours travel through a bus and my thirty minutes flight in a plane that is so small that would somehow make you doubt of your safety is worth it just to meet my friends in Jolo. My brothers. My sisters. My family. Religion doesn’t matter. We love each other in the love of the Lord!
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