As you may know Kyle Jennermann of Becoming Filipino fame was recently selected by the Department of Tourism to be a Tourism Ambassador. With his many documented adventures across the nation on Youtube and his thousands of followers on social media and his unbounded love for the country one wonders why the DOT took so long to choose him. From his Facebook page we read the following.
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https://www.facebook.com/becomingfilipino/posts/2360572780874580 |
What you are looking at in the photos below is me at the Tourism Promotions Board main office in Manila. If you didn’t know, this is the implementing agency for the marketing and promotions of the Department of Tourism here in the Philippines. I am in the office of TPB COO Ms. Venus Tan with DCOO Arnold Gonzales. We just finalized...AN AMAZING PARTNERSHIP!!
Why do I say amazing? Because not only is #BecomingFilipino linking up to help promote national tourism advocacies here in the Philippines... I AM BEING GIVEN BIG PLATFORMS TO SHARE!
Ms. Venus Tan wants me to give talks at national and regional tourism conferences in the Philippines. For example, I am being given a slot to do a public talk at the Philippines Travel Mart at SMX Convention Center in Pasay this August 31st!
The Tourism Promotions Board believes that my experiences are important to share... DO YOU KNOW HOW INSPIRING THAT IS! 🙂
And it gets even better...
Both Kumar and myself aren't just being asked to help promote tourism advocacies... we are being asked to help ASSESS! This year, besides doing as we usually do with #BecomingFilipino (spontaneously adventure, learn, and share positive education), we will be visiting local communities around the Philippines. But, we will be with a national tourism team, who will help assess sustainable community-based tourism practices. The TPB would like our insights, feedback, and ideas! I am deputized as a national tourism assessor here in the Philippines!
OH, AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY OVERWHELMS ME? I realized that YOU, yes YOU reading this... you can be a part of this! I told the TPB I would like to openly share everything here online, ask for ideas, help, and education from YOU.
I always say it... WE CAN ALL BE TOURISM AMBASSADORS! And now I truly feel like we, as a online community have all become one!
I have so much to share, but I'd like to finish this announcement off by sharing something Ms. Venus Tan said to me:
"Kulas. We just want you to... be you. I don't want you to post about me or my office. I don't want you to have to say specific things, or do specific things. I just want you to continue doing exactly what you are doing."
Do you know how refreshing it is to hear that? From someone who is a tourism head in the country!
After five and a half years... #BecomingFilipino is partnering with the Tourism Promotions Board! Oh, and sorry Venus, but I am so inspired and proud to post you on my Facebook Page! You just uplifted this community so much! Thank You for believing in me!
POWER ON!
If anyone can promote the Philippines to foreigners surely it must be a foreigner who has lived in the country for 5 years. And mind you he has been living in Mindanao, the most dangerous province, in Cagayan de Oro for most of that time. His sense of adventure and exploration and enthusiasm for the Philippines is infectious. Take this article about his recent motorcycle trip around the Cordilleras.
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| https://businessmirror.com.ph/2019/07/25/kulas-conquers-the-cordilleras-on-a-scooter/ |
KYLE “Kulas” Jennermann has been traveling around the Philippines for quite some time already.
Currently based in Cagayan de Oro City, the Canadian has a firm, genuine belief that he could introduce the country to the rest of the world in a positive light.
As a resident for five-and-a-half years, immersed well into the “Pinoy” way of life and already fluent speaking in Filipino, Jennermann now considers himself a local.
Everywhere I went, there were these incredible mountain roads, gardens of valleys and amazing sunrises. Environmentally, you could never be bored, as you can simply stare at the scenery as you drive.
I found out that several people in the mountains would actually open up to me about their feeling of discrimination by people in the lowlands. They felt that people there thought they were uncivilized. But actually, the locals were undoubtedly so friendly. It was interesting listening to them. Thus, it came as a shock that so many Filipinos would just say they felt discriminated.
The experience was also inspiring. The residents spoke about how they should not be discriminated against. They are a bit saddened of the view that mountain people are not friendly, yet they continued to open up their homes, while they continued to offer me coffee.
I was very impressed, especially when I visited Apayao. I went to the capital where they have these two incredible underground rivers with massive caves, remarkably clean water, and some incredible rock formations just within the same municipality.
The locals cooked trout in bamboo with no seasoning, but it tasted like some master chef prepared it.
At one point, I ended up in a random village in Kalinga, way-off in the mountains. A man invited me into his home with open arms. When I left his home, he sent local kids from the village to follow me everywhere I went, to ensure I would not get lost until I safely returned.
My message to my fellow voyagers, and even for Filipinos who have yet to explore their country: Always travel with an open mind, and respect the locals. As long as travelers have that mindset, they will have many enlightening experiences—whether as expats or simply as visitors of this country.
I hope that the posts that I share online would lead to a “transformation of sorts,” not only in the lives of the locals in the uplands, but also to a positive shift on the way the entire world views them.
The man simply oozes positivity. He is the kind of guy you could punch in the face knocking out a tooth and he would thank you for it because that tooth was giving him some pain. Kyle is like a wide-eyed child who has no idea what the real world is like despite living in it. Or rather because he has been living in a bubble.
Kyle is not at all like other ex-pats or tourists. He is not here for a quick holiday in Boracay. He is not here for a quick fling with the whores in Angeles. He is not seeking to establish a business utilising cheap labor. He is not seeking to retire here and live off his pension drinking Red Horse every night and doing nothing all day. He is not here seeking for love. His love is the nation. Kyle has married the Philippines.
Kyle Jennermann is a flash in the pan, a one of a kind. Who the heck has the time to explore all the backroads areas of this nation on a motorcycle or to immerse themselves in the culture? I dare say many Westerners would be put off by the excessive "friendliness" of the locals.
Often times the friendliness is only a mask hiding deadly motives. Of course not everyone who visits the Philippines ends up murdered. I guess one could and should say your experience in the Philippines will vary based on your personality, expectations, and goals.
Both Kyle and the DOT have the same goal of presenting the Philippines as a safe place to visit. Even Mindanao. Here is a recent open letter to the Canadian embassy from Kyle.
"If you are already in the country, territory or region, you should consider leaving if it is safe to do so."
- Canadian Travel Advisory For Mindanao
Yes, when you click the word "Avoid all Travel". That is the direct quote you will see on our governments website in relation to Mindanao. Basically what that tells me is I need to look outside, make sure it is safe, and then pick the right time to evacuate Mindanao and leave.
I believe that your quote is misrepresenting, and misleading for anyone seeking information in regards to travel and Mindanao.
Mindanao is home to 6 Regions, 27 Provinces, and 24 million people, that make up the 2nd largest island in the Philippines. Over the past four years of living here, I have found myself extensively traveling through 20 of those Provinces by scooter. Yes, openly on a scooter. And when I say "traveling", I mean fully immersing and interacting locally. When I say "openly", I really mean it... I have been live posting about it all over social media. It has all been documented and can visually be seen in video, picture and writing in various social media channels across the internet. In fact, the past three weeks I just took four foreign national friends of mine on a big road-trip 1800km's all across Northern Mindanao (see photo below). Where we experienced nothing but happiness, beauty, fun, and kind friendly people.
Now saying all of this, I am not ignorant. There have been some very very negative things that have happened here in Mindanao. Things that I have personally laid witness to, and completely understand are most concerning and disgustingly sad. But those things, they are not wide spread across the entire 97,500 square kilometres of the island of Mindanao. They don't represent the majority of this island and its people. There are many areas of Mindanao that are peaceful, beautiful, and very much capable of traveling and living in. In fact, as I type this, I am in one of those place... My home, Cagayan de Oro.
To keep this letter short, I think the quote "If you are already in the country, territory or region, you should consider leaving if it is safe to do so."Is inappropriate and misguiding.
If you know nothing about Mindanao and are looking to research it for travel, that very well could lead people to believe the whole island is at war. Literally, it is telling someone to evacuate "if it is safe to do so."
I write this in hopes that maybe you would consider removing, or changing that part of your advisory... to something that is more appropriate and educational.
https://www.facebook.com/becomingfilipino/posts/an-open-letter-to-the-embassy-of-canada-in-the-philippinesto-whom-it-may-concern/2074847816113746/
"I am not ignorant." "There have been some very, very negative things that have happened here in Mindanao." Understatement of the year! This post is from June 26, 2018 so the suicide bombings had not yet happened. But martial law had been in effect for a year and was extended at the end of 2018 because the exact opposite of what Kyle writes is true. At least the AFP, PNP, and Duterte think so. The DOT is doing this exact same thing, trying to paint Mindanao as safe. One DOT representative even advised tourists to go to Zamboanga for bird watching despite that being a place where Abu Sayyaf has kidnapped foreigners before.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1140038/dot-says-mindanao-still-safe-tourist-destination |
“If you go to Zamboanga, I don’t think that it’s a troubled area. I go there for bird watching. If we have the Intramuros here, you should see the old forts that they have in Zamboanga. It’s a city where you would see the interplay of Muslim culture, the American heritage (and) the Spanish heritage,” Alabado told reporters
“I would encourage our Filipino tourists to visit Zamboanga and you would be pleasantly surprised at how nice the pink beaches of Santa Cruz Island,” he added.
Late last month, Duterte admitted that Mindanao remains “a dangerous place” to go around as he acknowledged that there was still “lawless violence” in the region, which has been placed under martial law since the deadly terror siege in Marawi City in 2017.
“Mindanao really seems to be a dangerous place still to go around. That is why it could not be…in terms of truth to say that everything is all right there and you can go around and will not be waylaid along the way. Delikado ang Mindanao,” Duterte said.
It is totally mind blowing that Kyle and the DOT would encourage people to visit the most dangerous province in the Philippines yet the DOT has actually issued a warning to tourists about avoiding dengue hot spots.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1153522/avoid-dengue-hot-spots-in-bicol-tourists-warned |
The Department of Tourism (DOT) in Bicol has issued a travel advisory for local and foreign tourists to temporarily avoid areas in the region identified as dengue hot spots by health authorities.
Benjamin Santiago, DOT director in Bicol, said the advisory was issued after the Department of Health (DOH) declared a national dengue epidemic because of the rising cases of the mosquito-borne disease.
“We strongly enjoin tourists to temporarily avoid visiting areas identified by DOH as hot spots as a health preventive measure,” he said.
In Camarines Sur, 45 villages were listed as dengue hot spots, followed by Albay with 22; Sorsogon, 17; Catanduanes, 15; and Masbate, five.
Santiago, however, declined to name the tourist attractions in villages considered as hot spots but asked visitors to protect themselves and avoid areas where disease-carrying mosquitoes breed. Among the popular sites in the region are beach resorts and lakes.
Incredible! How are tourists supposed to avoid those hot spots if the DOT will not name them? It's just so half-assed what is the point?
I wrote above that Kyle has been living in a bubble. Let me explain what I mean. Kyle is not a Filipino. He is a white man, a Canadian specifically. He has money and time to travel all around the country doing things most Filipinos have not even done nor could they afford if they wished to do them. He is surrounded by or surrounded himself with many people who are friendly to him, are interested in his adventures, and love that he loves them. He is only able to do so much because he has lots of money. You can't do what he does and be poor. That is just a fact. He is living a travel lifestyle that is not conventional by any means unless he is being funded.
Does he think he is the first foreigner to visit Mindanao? He is not. There are foreigners living there now. Do you think those people are writing open letters to their embassies asking them to amend their travel warnings? Doubtful! Foreigners have also been kidnapped in Mindanao. They were having the time of their life until Abu Sayyaf showed up.
What is going to happen to Kyle? I don't know but he is not the only person in the world doing this ridiculous stunt of attempting to portray a dangerous country as totally awesome. Meet Hodan Nalayeh.
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| https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-48975875 |
While most coverage of Somalia focused on civil war, militancy and famine, Hodan Nalayeh made it her mission to show another side to the country - its beauty and that of its people.
Her desire to focus on the positive and ultimately inspire young Somalis around the world to help rebuild the country made her famous - and her death in Friday's attack on a hotel in the southern city of Kismayo has prompted an outpouring of grief.
She and her husband Farid Juma Suleiman were among the 26 people killed as gunmen stormed the Asasey Hotel, where regional politicians and clan elders were discussing a forthcoming regional election.
"If we don't become the creators of our own content, we are going to be at the mercy of other people telling the stories of Africa," she said, according to CBC.
In 2018 Nalayeh moved to Somalia where she continued her reporting. Recent episodes had focused on Somalia's female entrepreneurs and things to do in the city of Las Anod and she also used her social media accounts to highlight local life and culture.
BBC Somali's Farhan Jimale, a friend of Nalayeh's, described her as a "bright star and a beautiful soul who represented the best of her people and homeland".
"She always looked for the beauty in things, whether the people or the landscape, and wanted to tell a different Somalia, not the one we see on the media," he said.
This lady was doing the same thing Kyle has been doing for the past five years and now she is dead. The only difference is that she was actually a Somalian while "Kuya" will never be a Filipino. Will Kyle share her fate? Possibly. It would not be unexpected if he did.
It's a fitting partnership between the clueless DOT and the equally clueless Kyle Jennermann. Much like Bato being a Senator I can't wait to see what folly lies ahead.
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