Chapter Text
The following entries have been translated from Tausug to English.
Year: 1914
At Sea
O God, please grant me a safe voyage. I have never been days out at sea.
I am Princess Tarhata Kiram, niece and adopted daughter of Jamalul Kiram II, the Sultan of the Sulu Islands of the Philippines. It was my sister-cousins that gifted me this book. I had just turned 10 when I first heard of Uncle's plan to send me to Manila, the capital of our country. I do not see why he could not have sent me to the same school in Mindanao. It is much closer to home. But no, he had to send me far far north. What if I hate it? I've been told that Manila is nothing like Jolo. I've also been told that being Sultan is very hard, but it feels like this is one of those things that should not be so hard. I think Uncle is sending me to Manila because the Americans told him to. It was the Americans that had the school built. It is called the Philippine Normal School. All the main islands have these Normal Schools, but the main one is in our capital. Naturally. My sister-cousins said that the mission of these Normal Schools is to educate the poor primitive Filipinos and turn them into civilized westerners. How thoughtful of them. I heard that it is a school for teachers. If that is so, why am I being sent there? Are they in need of 10-year-old teachers?
Our ship left at a certain time to avoid the worst of the monsoons. Even so, I am afraid. The captain has been keeping an eye on me and my servants. When he is too busy, he sends one of his crewmen. I don't know if he senses my unease or if Uncle ordered him to do this. Either way, it is comforting. It is also comforting to look out my window and always seeing land in the distance. We are keeping close to the islands. My servants also remind me when it is time to pray, which is a third comfort.
In Ermita, Manila
I do not like how I feel when I wake up and I am not in my bedroom in Jolo. I had the same feeling after spending my first night out at sea. Jolo is sunny and there is lots of nature. It is simple. Manila is not that. Manila is a cloudy, rainy city. When I look out my window, I see no trees or mountains or even any grass. There are no signs of the earth. I only see the cemented ground, rows and rows of buildings, and rubble from constant construction work. I can't even see the stars. The buildings reach the sky and there is always something in the way. When I am able to see the night sky, there is somehow not as many stars as the sky in Jolo. My teacher Miss Rivera says it is because of something called light pollution.
My servants fear that I am ill with melancholy. I have not been eating much or praying. Muslims are supposed to pray five times a day. I told them that I shall recover.
Mostly I have been taught in the ways of being a good wife and mother, for that is the future Uncle wants for me and his daughters. I am to be one of the wives of a Moro leader, and my main goal will be to give this man sons. That is the plan, but if you ask me, it appears God himself must not like this plan, for He has given our family nothing but girls, girls, girls. Mama and Papa had me, and Uncle has seven daughters. Seven! So many children, but Islamic Law says that none of us can be heirs simply because we are girls. I don't know what we would do if Uncle were to die.
I told Miss Rivera: "I don't see why I have to learn these things when we have servants to do it all for us."
And Miss Rivera said: "If you are to be a good queen or even a good princess, you must be a lady, and a lady takes care of herself. She is humble, capable, and dependable."
I did not tell her that my cousins and I will never be true queens.
Miss Rivera's full name is Mercedes Lina Rivera. Very Spanish. Everyone and everything has Spanish names here in Manila.
I also have to master Spanish and English. I know bits of both, but I am not a natural like Miss Rivera. I need to learn Spanish because the people of the northern islands speak it, and I need to learn English because it is the language of our colonizers, and it is "the language of business".
In a way, Miss Rivera is learning from me too, like I am sometimes the teacher and she the student, because she wants to learn Tausug, the language of my islands. It is very unique. We are the only Filipinos that speak Tausug. We also know the Indonesian and Malaysian languages because the Sulu Islands are close neighbors of those countries, and we know Arabic because we read the Koran.
Miss Rivera is now looking around to see if she can find someone who is older and speaks Tausug. She says, "I understand you are a minority, but you can't be the only one in Manila!" I tell her, "But I already speak and write Tausug," and she says, "It is just in case you make mistakes, anyway."
I suppose that is fair.
Everyone at the school is nervous and chattering because a war has started in Europe. A big war. Both teachers and students are bringing in newspapers and talking about the articles.
Is it bad to say that I don't care at all?
Miss Rivera says that I really should care about the war in Europe.
I asked her, "Why should I care about a war on the other side of the world? It has nothing to do with me."
And she says something intelligent and something I can't fight, like usual, like, "A lady princess keeps up with worldly affairs, even those far away. Your uncle the Sultan must do the same. It's a small world, and even wars across the world may affect you."
I ask, "In what way?"
And she says, "Well, consider that we are a colony of the United States, and the US is much closer to Europe. If the US were to join in on the fighting in Europe, then they will have Filipinos enlist in their armies and have them fighting in Europe with them."
"Oh."
Apparently, this whole thing started because someone shot and killed a king from a country called Austria. I had heard of this kind of killing. When it's someone like a king, it's called "assassination". (I had to find that in a dictionary to make sure I spelled it right.) The assassin was from a place called Serbia, and for some reason, that matters. Now all Serbians must pay for the crimes of one man.
Some notes:
The king that was shot was Francis Joseph I, and he was not a king, he was an emperor.
Today, Miss Rivera took me and some classmates to the theater to watch an American film. All the films here are American. It is all that they will allow. It is part of my English learning, to read the English words across the screen, but I also think Miss Rivera just did not feel like teaching much today.
A new word I heard and looked up in the dictionary: "propaganda".
I don't understand why Germany, France, Belgium, Russia, and Great Britain have to be fighting each other now. How is what happened in Austria their problem?
Us Filipinos are afraid now, because Japan is taking more and more islands in the Pacific, islands just down the sea from us. We do not yet know why the Japanese have decided to do this, but there is talk of it also having something to do with the war in Europe.
For goodness' sake! Has the whole world gone mad?
They took Korea only four years ago, and they took Taiwan, which is not far from us at all!
The Japanese have taken Palau, the Carolinas, the Marianas, and the Marshall Islands.
There is talk of Japan not touching the Philippines because that means possible war with America. This would be a relief, as many Filipinos are not ready for another war. I was not there for the Philippine-American War, but my uncles and Papa and grandfather were. I was born right after it ended. All the stories I've heard from that time are terrible. We are still in the works of fixing what was destroyed.
I wonder if it would be better or worse to be a colony of Japan instead.
Before I go to bed, I kneel and pray to God.
I pray for the people of Europe.
I pray for those now under Japanese rule.
And I pray for the Filipinos still suffering from our last war.
I am a princess and yet I have no power. I can do nothing but pray. Perhaps when I am older, I will be able to do more for those in need.
Catholics sure have a lot of holidays. Nearly every day of the month of December is the celebration of a saint. The kitchens have been busy, busy, busy.
Although I do not celebrate Christmas, I still tell my Catholic friends and teachers "Merry Christmas". I see no harm in it. With my servants and fellow Muslim peers, it is the usual "peace be upon you".
The Filipinos of the Sulu Islands are Muslim because while the Spanish conquered the northern islands, they were not able to conquer us on the lower ones. That is why everyone in Manila speaks Spanish and has Spanish names and my people don't. Before America, we were a colony of Spain.
Have our islands ever been a home of their own?
I did not give any Christmas presents, but I did join in on the dancing. Some Muslims do not think dance and music is halal. They think it is haram because dance and music lead to devilish behavior. I don't see how something so enjoyable could be devilish. To me, what I feel when I dance is the warmth and love of God. It is the same happiness a baseball player feels when they play a game or when a book lover reads a good story. Games, story books, and dancing are all gifts from Him. I don't see why he would be, but if Uncle has trouble with me dancing, it is his own fault for sending me here.