By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
human science because it is so limited.”
As far back as I can remember (way back in the 1960s) what we know now as the RHU or rural health unit was called “dispensary”. This term dispensary was a legacy from our American colonizers. It was a center where sick people went and where medicines were dispensed. I remember that it also provided vaccinations and sanitary inspectors like Mr. Eusebio Botengan and Mr. Kimmakin were trained to give the injections to the barrios. But still it was more of a center for the sick.
Over the years, the services of the dispensary expanded and later was renamed as “health center.” Then it was called rural health unit or RHU. After devolution of health services in 1993, it officially was called the Municipal Health Office or MHO. We still refer to it as the RHU, though. Aside from providing consultation and treatment for the sick and immunization for well babies, the center now offers an array of services which aim to influence people’s lives – from the kitchen (cooking classes) to the bedroom (birth spacing). From eating (diet counselling) to excreting (toilet construction).
It is amazing how people have come to entrust their lives to the health center and health professionals. The limitation is that these health facilities are open at most weekdays (no noontime break nowadays) and the doctor is not always in.
As a doctor to the barrios for more than two decades, part of my job was to reach out to the barangays (thus I was really not always at the center). We would schedule our visits to the barangays and no matter the weather, we would go as scheduled. The highest storm signal then was No. 3. My godmother would ask “Why are you going there? Are they sick?”. Back then, I didn’t understand her question, I just told her it is part of my job. After around 10 years of aggressively going to the barrios doing clinic work, it finally dawned on me that these people have been living well without a doctor or western medicines. So why am I doing this? It wasn’t a head bang experience – it just slowly seeped in me that what I was doing was out of the blue.
The next logical thing for me to do was to discover what people in the barrio are doing because apparently, they are well even without me! And if ever they got sick, apparently they recovered their strength and wellbeing even without me. What’s their secret? Or secrets? I grew up in a town center with no dap-ay thus much of the dynamics of indigenous community life have been lost on me. It was an amazing eye-opening, heartwarming experience to discover the wonderful things people do, not only to survive but to be well. Our Igorot Kankanaey term for well-being is “gumagawis” – it is a term that captures the wholistic state of harmony, health and happiness. Not sensual happiness or materialistic happiness. Not compartmentalized physical, mental, emotional or spiritual health. It is being well.
In the indigenous Igorot village, there’s not much difference in social status between the villagers. They produced their own food. They ate what they produced and history has proven that this mode of survival is best because who would put poison in their gardens if they know that they will be the ones to eat the plants later. Who would feed their animals with poison if they will eat these animals later? In general, villagers eat the same food because they produce the same food. It’s practical. It’s difficult to experiment with new plants when your family depends on your produce . What if the plants didn’t grow as expected? And why do you have to experiment when your parents and grandparents and the other villagers of so many generations have proven by their lives that these plants are good for strength and well-being. For example, that camote is a superior food for strength and endurance. The tendency for people is to copy the good things that other people do. I guess it’s a survival instinct. One other thing about producing your own food is that your food is in harmony with nature. And we have discussed in previous columns the value of eating in harmony with nature. Nature knows best. Don’t rely on human science because it is so limited. So what is the number one secret of the villagers for well being? They live simply and eat what they produce.
Number 2 secret is that villagers share what they have. If they have plenty of squash for example, they share it with neighbors, the newly-delivered mother, friends, visitors. There’s nobody who would have nothing. And for those who have much more, the indigenous Igorot village makes sure you don’t hoard for long. The history of the “chono” in Bontoc is for the “kadangyan” to share some of his/her wealth. It is like evening out the playing field. No hoarding till kingdom come. The kadangyan is expected by the village to butcher so many carabao, pigs and chickens and bring out the rice in the granaries to feed all the people for how many meals. The amazing thing in the village is that there seems to be enough for everybody. But what is more important is that this sharing leaves little room for excess. Please note that today’s illnesses are diseases of excess.
Indigenous villages are self-reliant. They evolved as such. How? Each one takes care of herself/himself. In the instance that they don’t feel well, they rest and get well after a little while. People who eat naturally generally heal faster than those who don’t. Why? Because their built-in healing mechanisms are functioning well. Their built-in healing mechanisms are not cluttered with debris of artificial chemicals, sugar crystals and fat deposits. Just like in food production where knowledge is shared, knowledge of medicinal plants and other healing methods are common knowledge. There’s no patent issue here. Our Igorot villages don’t have herbolarios like lowland villages- everybody is an herbolario. So when we learn that this plant is a good medicine, we try as much to plant it right in our backyard. Recently, I learned about the herb “gaynura” so I got a cutting from Dr. Clare Lalwet’s organic garden (thank you, Doc!) and it’s now in my garden. We, Igorots, have our own backyard and kitchen pharmacies. And we do have gifted healers- specialists, really- for illnesses that can’t be cured with herbs and rest. We have the men-sip-ok, men-amad (ophthalmologist), men-ilot (orthopedic surgeon), etc. This number 3 secret, then, is that they rely on their own resources. Looking at it from the outside, I would say they full trust in their loving Creator to provide for their needs and provide what is best for them. In terms of environment preservation, this is the most sustainable lifestlye. The less we import from other places and the more we use local resources, the less carbon footprints we make.
The number 4 secret is that nobody keeps secrets in the village. Everyone’s life is public property and public knowledge. No philandering husband can have relations with a woman other than his wife without the village knowing about it. For one, traditional houses are small and not really conducive to secrets. For another, the moment you go out of your house, people meeting you in the pathway or road will ask where you are going and why. You cannot just answer, “I am going to see Mary.” Next question is “Why?”. And this information will be relayed to the next person and so on. This is also a survival mechanism – like if you happen to have slipped down the mountain and didn’t go home, people will know where to look for you. In the village, people will know if you are eating junk food. I can ask the store owner who buys junk food and she or he will remember. People will even ask you what you have in your bag. We are a very social people and other’s lives are our business thus it would be difficult to misbehave. And we are very small communities – some populations only number about 400 people. If you live with these people all your lives, you will not keep secrets. In big houses, in western societies and in the congested metropolis with their motorized vehicles, this publicity is privatized and thus they have more problems.
Health and well-being is a product of behaviors and behaviors are voluntary actions. A person or even a family cannot survive in isolation of others. We need others to nurture and support good behavior. What we have discussed above are indigenous support systems that control and direct our actions. Those living in small communities like us in the Cordillera villages are blessed to have our indigenous culture and traditional systems that are nurturing and caring and ensuring our health and well-being. Thanks to our forebears! So let us be careful about intrusions into our wonderful heritage- intrusions from TV, from internet, from other mass media. Let us not allow deleterious cultures to influence us, especially our young.**
