TIM eMagazine Volume 2 Issue 3 | Page 45

TIM eMagazine Vol.2 Issue 3
Like many other indigenous peoples,
the Tboli were marginalised by poverty,
isolation and a lack of basic services like
health care and education.
The COWHED’s microfinance support
facility is part of a poverty reduction and
human rights protection project being
implemented by the International Labour
Organization (ILO) in cooperation with
the Philippine National Commission on
Indigenous Peoples. With support from
the Government of Finland, the project
works to help indigenous peoples reduce
poverty, promote human rights, increase
employment opportunities and acquire
land tenure security through Certificates
of Ancestral Domain Titles.
Many indigenous peoples are gifted
with handicraft skills. The COWHED shop
has become a popular tourist site in Lake
Embroider near Lake Sebu, Philippines
Sebu, offering embroidered Tboli clothes,
Master embroider, Elma Segundo, 44
brass work, wood crafts, bead necklaces
years old. © ILO/Allan Barredo
as well as many items made from the
red, black and white t’nalak.
Working together with the skilled
handicraft producers, the Cooperative
(which now has more than 200
members), has already changed many
lives. Evelyn Cafon is displaying a
traditionally embroidered blouse that
took a week of uninterrupted sewing
to complete. “I used to sell an item like Dream weaving in Klubi, near Lake Sebu, Philippines
this for only 800 pesos (US$18), but
Subi Nalon, a 70 year old dreamweaver. ©ILO/
now I can sell it to the Cooperative for Allan Barredo
1,500 pesos ($35),” she says.
Dream weaving in
“I used to stay out all day to look
Klubi, near Lake
for tourists to buy my bead necklaces
Sebu, Philippines
and bracelets,” said Loreta Bongon,
Divina Man Clarang,
a beadworker and mother of four.
23 years old. She
“Sometimes, I would end up selling them
is the youngest
for really low prices just to make a sale.
dreamweaver.
Now, I just come to COWHED monthly to
She started weav-
deliver new products and get paid for the
ing at age 12.
items that were sold”.
©ILO/Allan Barredo
The weaving of t’nalak is neither easy
nor quick. It can take a an expert weaver
like Subi two months, from collecting
material, dying it and weaving it to
completing a finished product for sale.
The abaca fibre must be connected
together, with certain portions of the
fibre covered with string. Exposed parts
are dipped in natural dyes made of roots
and leaves. Leaves of the kenalum tree
are boiled to give the material a black
colour while roots of the lokoh tree tint
the fibre red. After the threads are air-
dried, the material is woven together to
create one continuous piece of fabric.
When a piece of t’nalak is finished, a
seashell is used to iron the cloth and
make it shine. Subi’s t’nalak sells for 300
to 800 pesos (6.86 to 18.32 dollars) a
meter depending on the quality.
“It’s better to weave on rainy days
because on sunny days, the fibres tend
to snap easily,” says Subi, as she deftly
wove the fibres with her wrinkled hands.
“The patterns of the t’nalak also come out
better when the weaver is happy”.
Subi’s only regret is that she didn’t
get the entrepreneurship training when
she was younger. She hopes that more
help can be given to her and other T’boli
women, so their dreams will lead not
just to new designs but to a brighter
future for the tribe, built around their
unique heritage. “I hope the financial
support can be extended so that I may
leave a legacy to my children and
grandchildren and their children and
they may be able to carry on the T’boli
craft of t’nalak weaving”, she said.
In the Philippines, as across Asia
and the Pacific, many indigenous
peoples are struggling to remain
above or rise out of poverty. Helping
them improve their livelihoods while
protecting their way of life i