When I first arrived in Banaue, I felt somewhat swallowed by the wide expanse of time that lay before me. I had no idea how to begin my project, who to talk to, how to get interviews, how to conduct the interviews, etc. It’s all well and good to research a book about “how modernization affects the Ifugao culture” but how does one go about that?

Thankfully, Filipinos are a wonderfully social, gracious, and networking people. My foray into research actually began as a byproduct of searching for a new home. I spoke with one hotel owner and she sat with me for over twenty minutes, asking me about my Fulbright and telling me all the people I should talk to and the places I should go. Next I went to talk with another hotel owner (I was considering long term hotel stay before I found out about the house I’ll rent). This one wasn’t able to provide a long term room, but told me about a few other people to talk to about housing and the Fulbright. Ultimately I found not only a house, but made several new friends in town that all want to interview with me at some point for my book project.

I realized I needed to set some goals and parameters for the project, as well as create a list of questions to ask people. The questions I’d like to ask will hopefully provide a picture of how Banaue’s cultural and physical landscape has changed over the last three generations, as well as where it might be headed and what the locals think about that.

I devised a goal for now: to speak to 100 members of each generation—the elders, the middle-aged, and the youth—to listen to their memories, their thoughts about their heritage and the direction of their culture, etc. So, that’s 300 interviews to conduct. I also plan to speak with at least 20-30 “experts” in the field who may be natives to the area as well. Lastly, I plan to speak with at least 100 tourists. They’re a huge part of the current situation here, and their input is a vital part of the dialogue at hand. That brings the total to about 2 to 3 interviews a day. Having these tangible goals both overwhelms me (I’m going to do that how?), and empowers me as well. Apparently, I had better get moving if I even want to come close to meeting them.

A jeepney: The good news is, the more focused and clear I am, the easier it is for people to help me. For example, today on the jeepney (a form of transportation), I met Yoli, a woman working on the tinauan project. Her organization sets up co-ops for farmers so they can sell their rice for a profit. This is a new development—because of its scarcity and sacred nature, tinauan’s never been sold in the past. Many farmers don’t know they can actually make money for the rice, so this new project must be promoted to the local communities.

Anyway, Yoli agreed to take me to the different areas and introduce me to the farmers, as well as to share information about this promising project. And this all happened because of a random choice about where to sit on a jeepney. I laughed about this coincidence with Yoli, essentially the exact person I needed to meet.

“This is what I like to call a serendipity,” I said.

She laughed and nodded. “Yes, I know what you mean,” she said. “We believe that whenever there is someone who wants to help the poor, God is there.”