The indigenous Teduray community lives in Barangay Renti in Upi, Maguindanao, which is located atop a mountain and where roads are impassable, even for the sturdy habal-habal (motorcycles) that ferry people to remote areas in Mindanao. This seeming distance, when measured, is only six kilometers from the national highway and 14 kilometers from the town center.

This inaccessibility isolates Renti and its communities from many of the government's social services. They still do not have electricity and water is difficult to obtain. With the limited government response, the community is hard put to sustain assistance received. Previous development support to Renti from some organizations included provision of solar panels for accessing electricity or and installation of a proper water source for wider and stable distribution. In 2005, ESSC assisted and facilitated the formulation of Renti's barangay development plan to guide barangay officials in implementing and sustaining the community's resource management activities and demands for basic social servicing. In 2008, through the support of GTZ, (the German development cooperation agency), ESSC assisted the community by responding to their water concerns.

Most of the solar panels distributed by other organizations to households for access to electricity are no longer working. And given the limited and unreliable community water source, the water system was not sustained. Only a few households now are able to benefit and instead of finding ways to improve the system, other members made unauthorized diversion of the water pipes, making it more difficult for the water system to reach the barangay center.

During a recent visit of ESSC to Renti last 26 July 2011, a strategy was developed to further assist the community through engaging with the Teduray youth, who are the future leaders of the community, in a series of visits and focused discussions and activities with other indigenous youth in Mindanao.

Through ESSC's project on Bridging Leadership in Mindanao, 10 Teduray youth from the Renti community is invited to go on a Bentela daw Sayuda (cross visit) or in the Teduray Language, Sumeged Se Uret-Uret. They will join 15 Teduray youth from the other barangays of Matuber and Tubuan, Municipality of Datu Blah Sinsuat, also in Maguindanao province.

The Bentela daw Sayuda aims to give its participants a wider perspective of life and challenges that marginalized youth face along with learning strategies and methods to respond to the basic needs of their communities. The activity also hopes to provide these youth with a sense of independence and character as they relate to peers of the same tribe but of different communities. The cross visit also seeks to instill the value of a more sustainable and environment and responsible way of life when they go back to their communities.