When I landed in the Philippines in April 2014 to begin my assignment as an Unarmed Civilian Peacekeeper, I anticipated conflict resolution work, community dialogues, and security briefings. I had been assigned to Pikit Municipality in North Cotabato, Mindanao, a region known more for the Moro (Muslim) fight for autonomy and self-rule. But no one had prepared me for the cultural shock I was about to experience, not in the context of conflict, but in the context of identity. Our office was right in the heart of Pikit, close to the main market and the municipal offices. We were living in the community, surrounded by friendly locals, small kiosks, and tagalog dialects. As a black man in a mostly Filipino community, I stood out like a billboard in a rice field. Children would wave, strangers would stare, others would ask for a photo, girls would ask if I had a girlfriend, and curiosity followed me everywhere. One morning, I walked to a nearby kiosk to buy airtime for m...
Building Better Futures, One Voice at a Time