Family is an important foundation in building a peaceful world, but Mohammad Jamael is yet to find forgiveness for himself before he can share it to his loved ones.

Burdens of An Older Sibling

Mohammad Jamael had a younger brother with special needs growing up. His sibling was diagnosed with epilepsy and his conditions made him prone to violent fits. While Jamael tried to be patient with his brother, the tantrums were increasingly alarming over time. There were moments he slaps other people, and at one time when they were kids, the younger brother attacked Jamael with scissors and a knife.

When he was in Grade 1, they were both locked in their house while their parents were away for work and Jamael was tasked to take care of his brother. However, given that they were just kids, the younger brother was able to slip past guidance and was able to run away from the house to a nearby bridge. His parents were furious when they got home and punished Jamael.

Then, when Jamael was in Grade 4, he had to stop going to school for a while because he had to watch over his younger brother since no one wanted to do it. Because his brother tended to harm others, Jamael fought back and retaliated by beating him with tsinelas (flip flops). These incidents made Jamael question the world as to why he was given these hardships. He envied other children as he looked through the window and saw them playing outside with their friends. Jamael was young, and yet, he was not given the freedom to enjoy being a child. Jamael blamed it all on his younger brother because he was the reason Jamael had to stay at home and be locked inside the house. Jamael contemplated running away and just leaving all of these burdens behind.

The Vulnerability in The Environment

However, one day, the younger brother became kinder to him. He invited Jamael to spend time with him. It has been one of the best memories they shared. They ate snacks, made drawings, laughed together, and went outdoors when it started to rain. After drying up inside the house, Jamael left for Marawi to do something with his other siblings. His younger brother looked at Jamael thoughtfully as he went.

On his way home, Jamael saw his father running towards him with tears rolling down his cheeks. He hugged him tightly. Jamael saw his sibling go ahead of him to their house. When he arrived at the door, that is when he saw a body covered by a white blanket. Jamael was confused, at first, but then he pulled the blanket down and saw the forehead of his younger brother. He passed during the day that Jamael went out. His father asked Jamael to forgive the younger brother for all the pain he caused while his mother blamed Jamael for leaving him. Meanwhile, Jamael was still gathering his emotions. He felt the pain and anger getting mixed up and it took his family to help him let go of the blanket.

The sudden passing of his brother made Jamael hate himself, lose interest in academics, and increased his anxiety for fear of leaving his siblings and finding them gone. He found himself crying out of nowhere. He stopped engaging in extra co-curricular activities at school. He internalized the constant blaming and emotional abuse that he got from his mother. These negative emotions that he cultivated within himself pushed him away from his family. Because of this gap that he experiences, Jamael can be vulnerable to negative narratives and can grow from self-hate to nurturing a hateful environment filled with anger and anxiety. Without love and support from his family, Jamael can continue to foster a bitter view of the world.

Rekindling Their Shared Love to Draw

Things began to turn when he found a notebook filled with art that he and his younger brother did. He stopped drawing when the younger brother passed because it only gave him sadness and anger. Yet, he slowly started to pick up creative materials and tried to restart his passion for art. This passion got him invited to join a workshop of the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement.

At first, Jamael was hesitant to join and socialize, but the facilitators were accommodating. They started with a self-introspection and it took him time to face the emotions and anxiety that he has been keeping to himself. They were being reminded that peace starts within ourselves and that they will not be able to share peace if they do not have a piece of it to share. This activity brought him back to the time when Jamael and his younger brother found peace when they were drawing together. Processing these emotions during the activity made Jamael realize that he should forgive himself and use the arts to express himself. It helped that he was with his fellow artists who did not judge him and made him feel safe.

Meeting Kuya AG and Kuya Glen also inspired Jamael to be a better artist not only for himself but also for others. He was unaware that his art can be a vehicle of peace and that it can make an impact on his community. Through Kuya AG, he was able to find confidence in the work that he did, and this pushed him to keep on practicing to hone his craft. Meanwhile, Kuya Glen taught him to use digital arts and maximize the tools that he has to be better at his work.

This workshop motivated him to produce more peaceful art. Soon, his schoolmates noticed what he was doing and were amazed by his work. Also, he found more ways to incorporate peace and his Maranao roots into his art. The learnings he gained from TPBPM were helpful to how he can use the arts in bridging cultural differences in Mindanao. His creations started to gain more traction and more opportunities came in the form of event invitations, side hustles, and artist

Being part of TPBPM helped Jamael find himself and find forgiveness within him.

If he has not given himself a chance for peace, he may not have been able to be the better person that he is today. His inner peace started with him forgiving himself. His younger brother shared his love during his last moments. Jamael feels that he must share this love with the world through peaceful arts.

Seeing violence and injustices firsthand, Anwar Acrab knew the power of visuals in building a peaceful environment for oneself and others.

Waking Up with Conflict Around

Back in 2017, Anwar Acrab witnessed and experienced the effects of the Marawi siege. He saw the injustices through the bakwit (evacuees) fleeing from the city and looking for shelter from the bombings and crossfire between the government forces and violent actors. He recounted the unfairness of the distribution of basic social services in which other privileged individuals were prioritized over those who have nothing.

While the conflict was happening on the other side of the lake, Anwar feared for his life and his family as it could spread and reach their home. There were moments in which he was jolted to wake up not because of his prayer alarms, but because of the loud bombs falling in Marawi City. Moreover, he came across videos of young children recruited to the conflict and became child combatant.

These exposures made him realize the vulnerability of young children growing up in conflict and the effect of the environment in shaping their view of the world. A recent article by The ASEAN Post, among the factors of recruitment among children are their poor sense of belonging or familiar relationships and propaganda by some non-state actors. These violent groups target the emotional, physical, and developmental vulnerabilities of children.

Visualizing A Peaceful World

With a talent in the arts, Anwar has been conveying his experiences through his drawings. To further hone his craft and know how he can integrate peacebuilding in his creations, he joined Teach Peace Build Peace Movement’s Artists for Peace Mentoring Sessions for Youth.

Through his sessions with Kuya AG, Anwar was amazed by how you can integrate peace and caring for the environment. At first, his goal as an artist was mainly focused on himself, but his experiences during the workshop inspired him to use his talent to convey messages of peace to others. Moreover, he realized the importance of building a peaceful environment not only through creative visuals, but also with his daily interactions. After the training, he started to practice what he learned by being more respectful and understanding to his family. He understood how these little actions contribute to a more peaceful environment within his home.

With the help of his fellow artists, Anwar also started to build circles of peace in his school and community. He envisioned a peaceful space where artists can learn from each other and find role models who can inspire them to be better. Because he knew firsthand how exposure to violence can influence younger artists to stop their craft and join the conflict, he wanted to make sure that there is a space where these artists can become advocates of a culture of peace and better transform these experiences at a more peaceful platform.

Moreover, he was further inspired when the Minister of New Zealand purchased one of his artworks during one of the activities of TPBPM. Anwar did not expect that his creations may reach international audiences. This event pushed him to be a better artist by ensuring that their culture and voices as Maranaos will always be entwined in his art.

For Anwar, it is important to share the values of peace education with younger children to counter their exposure to conflict. For him, peace education can inspire other individuals to break the cycle of violence by using their talents. Anwar knew that his drawings contribute to the bigger picture of a more peaceful world.

While joining workshops, training, or events on peacebuilding is not new to him, Maguidala Usman is still working on making peace his way of life.

Finding the Path to Inner Peace

Maguidala grew up with the privilege of growing up in a family that can support his studies from elementary to senior high school. Maguidala understands the compassion and effort that his parents are making sure that he receives the education that he deserves.

However, despite the respect that he provides to his family, he is yet to extend this understanding to other people. Maguidala admitted that he is prone to having an uncontrollable temper and annoyance at slight inconveniences. These outbursts affect his environment in which he gets angry at someone and says hurtful words that are brought by these negative emotions.

One of his recent encounters was during a provincial competition at Lanao del Sur in which he lost because of cheating. He knew about the injustice due to a video of the incident where the judges tampered with the scores and favored one of the contestants that went viral. Upon seeing it, he immediately shared it with hurtful comments to the judges and the organizers. This situation is one of the moments in which he harbored negative emotions that nurtured a toxic online environment where other people can be triggered to join the hateful discourse.

Knowing yourself to understand the situation

Maguidala has not been able to see the extent of his temper until he joined Teach Peace Build Peace Movement. During one of the activities in which they were made to understand the effects of sharing negative emotions and not controlling your outburst, he realized that his reactions build on the negative narratives that affect other people and can be entry points for violent ideology. The exposure to these reactions can affect other people’s perception of their homes and communities and of themselves.

After being made aware of this concern, he went to his social media and deleted those posts in which he shared his feelings and emotions. In addition to that, he proactively reached out to the organizers to ask for their side of the story and apologized for his behavior. This action led to him being invited by the judges and organizers who explained the situation and apologized to him as well.

Through the training, he also discovered a way to express these emotions in a peaceful manner – spoken poetry. He recognized that spoken poetry can be used as a platform not only to say what is in his heart but also to spread peace and happiness.

Maguidala became more mindful of his actions and knew that his spoken poetry can include messages promoting peaceful values.

While he acknowledges that negative emotions cannot be avoided, he is now taking time to pause and reflect on his thoughts or actions before expressing them to the world. After contemplating them, he started writing what he feels through poems and integrating what he learned from the training.

By integrating peace into his day-to-day actions, he noticed a change within himself and his environment. He feels happier and lighter, and these feelings are also complemented by the people around him. Usman, in his way, knew what it meant to contribute to hateful narratives and strived to make a peaceful world through spoken poetry.