Acknowledgments

3rd Igorot Cordillera BIMAAK Europe (ICBE) Consultation

5-8 May 2005

by Yvonne Belen

As in many undertakings, we realized that hosting a consultation is not a small errand. We would not have been able to pull everything off without a great deal of help from many supporters. At this time, we would like to acknowledge the many contributions that led to the success of the 3^rdICBE consultation. This took many forms be it in talents, time and treasures. BIBAK Switzerland is very grateful for all the valuable support they received since the planning until the post conference time. There are so many people to thank and acknowledge. If we have left anyone out, please know that it is not because we appreciate you less but it is because we are overwhelmed by your contributions and support.

It is with great pleasure and sincerity that we thank the following:

To our incredibly articulate speakers who travelled from far to be with us. They are Mr. and Mrs. Albert and Carolyn Bacdayan, Mrs. Mia Apolinar-Abeya, Miss Elizabeth Omengan, Mrs. Caridad B. Fiar-od, Mrs. Luzviminda Tuazon, Mrs. Rosemarie Madadsec, Miss Airen Kalley, Mr. and Mrs. Henry and Nellie Pit-og, Rev. Cesar Taguba, Mr. Severino Oblas, Mrs. Conchita Pooten and Mrs. Marjorie Bawing-Lev. Thank you so much for all the wisdom, knowledge and experiences you shared during your speeches and deliberations. Future ICBE consultations will always have a slot for you.

Ourspecial appreciationgoes to our facilitators, moderators and group leaders who guided us in those informative and thought-provoking workshops. From the feedbacks and reports, we believe that most benefited from the active participation during the whole event. The credit goes to you that most if not all were involved. The fact that it was a spontaneous grouping, everybody fitted into the workshop groups and actively participated in the discussions.

To the youth group,thank you very muchfor your participation. Even if it was more of a getting to know-each-other meeting, we hope the bonding continues and the gains from the interaction will enhance your interest in promoting our Igorot cause. While certain topics were geared towards the first generation and others were towards migrant issues, you were attentive to the topics. In the end, we believe we all benefited from the interactions.

To our new attendees,many thanks toofor your presence. We hope the impressions you had from this first attendance will encourage you to join future ICBE Consultations. For all of us, there is always the first time. Let it be it known that our consultations are not only reserved for experienced speakers but also for those who want to be heard. Your participation added weight and meaning to our meeting.

Thank youto the following people for their different support extended to the group before, during and after the consultation:

To Mr. Thomas Knupp for taking over the rent of the hall used during the gala night and the reduction on the hotel bill.

To the whole Friedegg hotel staff who made us all comfortable and were ever-willing to accommodate our extra requests and needs.

To Mr. Fritz Portenier of the Jodlergruppe Alpengruess Aeschiried, who willingly gave his valuable time coordinating with us to organise that unforgettable merging of two cultures. His communicable enthusiasm and interest in the Igorot culture is truly encouraging. How the group readily integrated with us during the cultural night was no doubt to his credit.

To the Jodlergruppe Alpengruess Aeschiried and their spouses for their extraordinary performances, their impressive participation will forever be remembered.

To Virgil Monico for playing the Swiss national anthem with saxophone in spite of his stage fright.

To Yvonne Belen, our adviser and good fairy of ICBE, we will not sum up the work you did and are still doing for BIBAK-Switzerland and ICBE but we just want you to know how grateful we are. You are indeed the “tokwifi” working behind the scenes. We can not thank you enough.

To Christa Monico for taking care of our treasures. Your oversight and auditing skills in the budget process ensured that finances were properly handled until the final report.

To Juerg Hafner who has been a big help from set-up to clean-up.

To Flordeliza Schwarz, Anny Hefti, Martin Koller, Patrick Bounggick, Julius Banban, Milo Baechtold, Fredy Wunderle who supplemented our taxi service crew to shuttle participants during the arrivals, departures and the gala evening.

To Cristabel and Patrick Bounggick and IGO Austria for their assistance in the decorations and for sharing their props, attires and instruments that helped liven up the entire programme. We know we can always count on you. You’re very much appreciated.

To Dominga and Douglas Webber, Elizabeth Ut-utan, Ric Cuyob, Yvonne Belen, Violeta Passerini, Bart and Silvia Aliten, Frederick and Daniela Baldo, Fred Labfayong and IGO Austria for sharing their photos and films taken during the consultation.

To Rebecca Riesterer whose smooth management of the snack corner made sure we all had our snacks and drinks during the breaks. She was assisted by the young, energetic Frederick Baldo who ran for refills.

To the siblings, Flordeliza Aliping Schwarz and Cristeta A. Schneider from Germany for their initiatives so that some of our very young participants were not bored during the sessions. They entertained them with games and drove them around.

To Claus Nabert and Rose Nabert for the time, effort and money they spent to attend the conference, although in the end they were unable to due to unforeseen circumstances. Thank you also for your generous donation to BIBAK Switzerland.

To Paz Awingan-Aptimes and Claus Nabert for a very well prepared IIC-6 power point presentation.

To Mrs. Caridad Fiar-od who willingly took over the IIC-6 presentation in behalf of Claus Nabert. We all enjoyed her animated and witty presentation.

To Susan Kilakil for volunteering to photocopy the proceedings.

To Peter Agnaonao for volunteering to help mail the proceedings

We would be remiss if we don’t thank our main anchor supports. Our group couldn’t have functioned properly without the various levels of help from our families. As you have seen in the gala night, most of the spouses, children, in-laws, friends and other supporters were on hand to help in the canteen set up for our fund raising. They took care of baking the pastries, buying the beverages and selling the snacks. They got positive comments from everybody and enjoyed their participation even in a quite limited time. Our thanks too to the other family members who were not present but were with us in spirit and mind. Wesincerely appreciatetheir moral and physical support ever since the existence of BIBAK-Switzerland.

In addition, since our group survives on self-reliance and volunteerism, we have to find ways to cover our internal finances and offset our counterpart as host. We believe it is then proper to also acknowledge contributions in various ways from members. Donations in kind came from Martin and Claire Koller for the name tags; from Rebecca Riesterer, Angie Wunderle, Violeta Passerini, Sabina Kuenzi, and Walter Labaya for the cakes, pastries, fruits and sweets; and from Irene Kilongan, Bart Aliten, Julio Monico and Erika Foken for the drinks.

Last but not least, ourbig, big thanksgo out to each and every one of you. With your participation, all our efforts were worth it and led to a successful event.

See you all in Ireland. Long Live Everybody! Long Live ICBE!