Dear Friend and Supporter,

It has been a beautiful year for Mandala Earth Story. Sharing with you the highlights of 2014 as you have been an integral part of this journey and to the lives of those touched by creativity, earth wisdom, and the power of story.

You are reading/receiving this update as a donor and/or supporter of the project/s in the past.

Community Art for The Windship Typhoon Bunker Build

February 2014

I helped integrate community art making in the building of the Windship, the first Earthship Biotecture build in the Philippines. This is a typhoon bunker built together with international volunteers and local volunteers. The bunker was recently used during the evacuation for Typhoon Ruby last December.

For the build, I worked on co-creating a segregation bin through the Story of Waste with Batug Elementary School. I crafted with the students in writing their letters to the future which they placed as messages in bottles which were placed as part of the building which is built from recyclables. Lastly, I arranged a closing ceremony for the international and local volunteers gifting each other through prayers, symbolic exchanges of gifts, music, and a gratitude ceremony.

Inter Tribal Peace Pact Ritual Space

March 2014

While in Leyte doing disaster response one day, I heard my soul speak- speak so loud that it surprised me how it could have come up now knee deep in rehabilitation work. I said in-loud: “When the peace agreement gets signed I will tell a former peace NGO colleague that I want to be part of it as an artist.” I was always hoping I could come circle with the mandala of lights we did for the children led ritual led for the resumption of the peace talks in 2011. I brushed this soul declaration off until that evening with the moon pregnant above my tent, I saw someone post that the Peace Agreement will finally be signed and that there will be a sacred peace pact. None of this I was aware of having lost touch with developments in the peace process. This unfolded as patterns of Mindanao indigenous weaves as a ritual space for the inter tribal peace pact called Sapa for the signing of the peace agreement led by Datu Vic Saway, Chieftain of the Talaandig Tribe among with other tribal elders from Islamized and non-Islamized groups. The panelists from the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front were present during this sacred ritual of healing past hurts and the wishes for a peaceful future to come.

Click HERE to read more about the story and see photos.

Cocoon Dream Lab

June 2014

Cocoon Dream Lab was an experimental creative space first piloted in Batug, Dulag, Leyte, site of a partnership ecovillage response project with the Earth Village Project and Maia Earth Village. The name is inspired by the potent space for the dying of the old and the emergence of the new possibilities in a cocoon for the caterpillar in transition to become a butterfly. The laboratory engaged the community to incubate the idea of the new story of Typhoon Yolanda through installation and storytelling. The exhibit was held inside the Windship Typhoon Bunker built with the community by Earthship Biotecture.

This work is a continuation of the psycho-social support activities I conducted during the first month after the typhoon in terms of using psychological first aid, community art,, blessing rituals, and transition ceremonies.

Pintakasi: A Festival of Love and Community

I had a meaningful time supporting this festival organised by the Earth Village Project with the leadership of GreenPath Yoga and One Block for Batug by conceptualising the cultural restory-ing of Pintakasi, the Waray word for community building. By deriving its most essential definition as " "the highest regard and yearning for someone greatly loved" ("Pita" means highest regard, respect, and longing of one for another. "Kasi" refers to "heart" or "love.") Pita" becomes "pinta" when added to "kasi."

The week-long gathering was a learning and living experience with the Batug community in Dulag, Leyte, one of the many areas affected by Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, the strongest storm on global record. INGOs, people from nearby communities, and the local government were present to experience the festivities.

Kites for Peace

July - November 2014

Kites for Peace, is a simple, children inclusive response to violence against children around the world. What started out as an inspired invitation to collaborate for a creative response to the killing of Gaza children during the Israel-Hamas war in 2014, has now become a global network of self organising groups in partnership with local organisations Binhi ng Kapayapaan (Seeds of Peace), and Anak Mindanao (Children of Mindanao) and international movements Charter for Compassion, Compassion Games International, and the Global Network on Religions for Children in support of the Day of Prayer and Action for Children.

To date, we have met the intention of flying more than 13,000 kites that children of Gaza flew in 2011 as a way of supporting the voices of children in conflict areas around the world. To close, last November 2014, after celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Children together with the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children, we flew 50,000 kites in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the Philippines.

In 2015, Kites for Peace will evolve to include Peace Garden projects that hope to hold space for healing across cultures, generations, and beliefs where the sharing of food, access to renewable energy and resources are co-created together.

Dalai Lama's Support for Kites for Peace

November 2014

While on a personal retreat in India, I didn't expect the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet would be giving a lecture in Dharamsala where I spent my last leg without an itinerary. While waiting in line to get my ID for his lecture, I dared, "What if we asked for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's support?" And so I did...and a beautiful message of support for Kites for Peace was endorsed by His Holiness. Read more about the story here.

Ongoing Story Circles and Documentation on the Babaylan

December 14 to present

The term Babaylan refers to the archetypel ancestral Filipino shaman, healer, visionary, ritualist, and wisdom bearer. For the last 3 years, I have been meeting beautiful communities and networks that engage in the study, practice, and sharing of the Babaylan's story. It has been a special journey that began with painting the Babaylan Lecture Ritual Series logo, creating sacred spaces, to organising Earth Wisdom Circles for the public. In December, I was able to witness and participate in an extra special ritual for healing which I am currently inspired to help document as a living story of the sacred feminine which is much needed in today's earth changes.

There are so many highlights that are beyond the snapshots shared here like being shortlisted among the Top 25 out of 250 nominees for the ArtRaker Fund for Creativity and Conflict; living in a tent for months in a post disaster site; exploring art therapy deeper through Mandala Soul Journeys; becoming a member of the New Stories team, a collaboratory of practitioners and projects exploring story - based social technologies for innovation; and being invited to be a speaker for the Circles of Light Gala of the United Religions Initiative in San Francisco this March.

Last year wrapped up beautifully with a journey to the land of the Mandala - India. After joining the meeting of the Global Ecovillage Network Oceania and Asia as incoming Country Representative for the Philippines, I met the indigenous Bhumiya people in Orissa, celebrated Diwali in Varanasi, meet the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, but most importantly remembered and embodied the Mandala within throughout this pilgrimage. I was also inspired to resume my visual journaling on the road too! Some reflective moments of the journey through photos can be viewed HERE.

THANK YOU

Thank you for believing in the power of artmaking in co-creating the new story of community and the earth. Your support in the past projects have gone a long way.

This year will be another great journey with existing and new community partners in the Philippines and in other parts of the world. The first quarter will be crucial in the incubation and development of project designs, networking, partnerships, and fund-raising.

Your continued support will be greatly valued to sustain the spaces, stories, and wise actions that will be birthed together with community partners. An expansion into empowering community artists of the same vision and intention is being undertaken so as to expand the reach, strengthen support and the diversity of gifts to share.

To make a monetary donation to help manifest these dreams, click HERE.

To support through a gifting economy in terms of other forms of resource, please feel free to email me via sarah.queblatin[at]gmail.com

Thank you. I wish you a meaningful year ahead!

Sincerely,

Sarah Queblatin
Storyteller,
Mandala Earth Story Project