maranao pride

i have never been proud of being maranao as i am today!! i ususally do not like some principles that guide the maranao culture . rido and maratabat are some, to name a few. but today, right here in the United States of America, i would not trade my ethnicity for anything else in the world!


my being MARANAO made me a shoulder above than everybody else!! during our school's convocation program, we were required to wear proper dress. i did not bring one with me. since it's a requirement for all incoming students, i was forced to attend wearing a traditional maranao attire..yeah, nakakahiya at first because i look veeeeery different from the rest. and they were all looking at me..you know naman me, i'm not fond of attention..


i was walking slowly with my head down. max, the UGRAD scholar from thailand kept on saying its okey and it's not really embarrassing. i said to myself.. "hey, you're not the one who's getting all the attention!" i walked straight without looking anyone in the eye..when i found my seat, i sat up staright looked at the stage as if i was the only person inside the auditorium.


when the program was done, the teachers came to me and said I looked beautiful in my dress. yeah you heard it right! they can't get enough of my dress..hehe..they love my maranao costume especially my fan. they kept on asking me about my dress. i proudly answered them that it's a traditional dress and the fan is handmade courtesy of my two supah lovely sisters. they were so amazed with my dress, my Maranao dress! Dr. April Burriss and Claudia Ortiz, the Dean and the Student Coordinator of the School of International Students respectively, were astounded with my dress that they took pictures of me with them. Dr. Burriss even made jokes that she will steal my fan. I can read between her lines that she was asking for my fan..feeling artista tuloy ako..but i ignored her pagpaparinig because i know i will use my handmade fan here in the future


that made me realize that i should have walked at the auditorium not feeling bad about the dress i wore. that i should have dealt with it more confidently. i am the sole female representative of my culture to the Global UGRAD exchange program. they chose me because they know i can represent my culture to the US very well. thus, i am an unofficial ambassadress of lanao del sur, the philippines as a whole and their culture and traditions to the US.


i will handle the next program (if meron) in a much different way. itatayo ko ang bandila ng mga maranao dito sa estados unidos inshaallah!