Peace Education – Page 2 – Teach Peace Build Peace Movement

Cultivating Inner Peace through Spoken Poetry: The Story of Noraya Unda

Noraya or Aya, in short, is a 24-year-old law student from Iligan. Aya enjoys watching K-dramas and spending time with friends in her spare time just like everyone else. However, more recently, she has developed a new interest in spoken poetry. Another particular about Aya is that her family comes from Butig, Lanao del Sur, a municipality that has historically been the hotbed of violent armed groups. Butig is known for its long history of political unrest, violently disrupted elections, and increasing cases of Rido that have hampered the town’s socioeconomic growth. As far back as Aya can remember, uncertainty and a lack of opportunity forced her family to relocate to Iligan.

When Marawi Siege happened, she remember how she spent the day feeling helpless as a teenager that time. She and her family were in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte when the bombings started. She still recalls the suffering of the “bakwits,” or the Marawi residents who were forced to flee their homes. Iligan City became the main safe haven for the bakwits to evacuate. Although they were in a safe area at the time, she was still worried about how the conflict would develop and how long it would be before her fellow Maranaos could resume their normal lives. Aya wishes she had a way to express her inner frustrations and rage.

Aya is not the type of person who likes to join clubs or any group-related organizations. Although she is interested in learning more about herself, she has doubts about her artistic side as well. But her Ate Izzah, a volunteer in the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement encouraged her that there is no pre-requisite skill when you join the TPBPM – Artist for Peace Mentoring Program, which was held from June 27 to 30, 2022, with funding from the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund.

On her first day, her mother broke the heartbreaking news that she adored her father and had chosen to wed a second woman. She was baffled that her father did not give her the idea that he is considering a second wife. At that point, Aya had no idea where to begin, but she learned from Kuya Verlin, Founder of Titik Production and TPBPM’s mentor and advocate of art for peace about how to find inspiration, write in rhyme with natural intent, and keep her composure while reciting poetry. Ironically, the inspiration to write a piece came at a good time to get an inspiration to write a piece.

“I thought it would be difficult for me to look for an inspiration to write, not to justify na it was okay to me but in a way, something was meant to me to be inspired to write and appreciate the beauty of spoken word poetry.”

As a result of what happened while writing the piece, Aya learned to accept the things that were under her control. She expands on themes pertaining to the difficulties and potential conflict that her community, Butig will face in the future as she continues to write spoken word pieces. After the program, she gained a new group of friends as well and a sense of purpose with them. They discuss how such a persistent conflict can be addressed using art as a constant topic of discussion whenever they sit down to have coffee.

“It was such a good feeling to meet and continue to build connections with these people and learn about peace and promote peaceful habits together. I still can’t believe that saying yes to an invitation to apply for the workshop will have an impact on my life. Truly a life changing experience.“

The use of spoken word poetry to offer commentary on a range of socially significant issues is well known. Aya saw this as an opportunity to empower her writing so that it can challenge the community for change and help Lanao achieve peace, even though she is new to this field of the arts. One of the wonderful things about spoken word poetry is that it has a two-way benefit. She is also grateful to the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement for introducing her to spoken word poetry. Today, Aya is working to be involved with Artists for Peace and more youth organizations. She is more eager now to perform her piece and spread the importance of peace education in the future.

A workshop initiative hosted by John Hopkins University titled Letters for Peace (LFP) that arranges workshops at the intersection of creative writing and conflict transformation to promote healthy discourse in war-torn areas among youth in Armenia and Azerbaijan. They found out that conducting writing workshops encourage youth involvement in peacebuilding. Writing gives them a platform to express themselves while also fostering self-awareness and socioemotional skills. Because without a long-term strategic plan to guide how our young people should be facing their struggles and their own conflicts, they may resort to joining violent groups and experience mental health issues. Conflict-torn areas like Butig, where intimidation, political instability, and slow growth in development have been proven to be the driving forces behind violent extremism. Through writing workshops, young people like Aya can continue to develop and tackle issues of peace and conflict management in their writing. In her way how physical security is essential to fostering inner peace and mindfulness in young people. Aya kept honing her skills and discovered a new love for performing spoken poetry. And these abilities are a solid foundation for promoting peace education among young people and children. Aya believed that peace should begin within the self and that through writing, we can spread hope for the change we want to see in our communities.

June 19, 2023 / by Peace Hero

Drawing circles of peace for oneself and others: The Story of Anwar Acrab

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.

“I could not believe that artwork from a young artist like me, will be given an opportunity to share my work with others, more so to the Minister of New Zealand.
I am so overwhelmed and even more inspired to continue doing pieces of art highlighting my people’s story.”

June 19, 2023 / by Mc Jazer Malonda

Speaking Peace From The Heart: The Story of Maguidala Usman

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.

June 19, 2023 / by Mc Jazer Malonda

The First Step in Caring for Returnees

Fog started to creep in from a cafe on Heaven street, covering a portion overlooking Mindanao State University (MSU) in Marawi City. In the same area, light showers were being felt at Kampo Ranao, a military headquarters where the 12th Civil-Military Operations Battalion (CMOBn) was based. Both places were eerily quiet and cold, and people went on with their daily afternoon schedules. Everything seemed normal, but who would have thought that five (5) years ago, MSU and Kampo Ranao were filled with Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) as a result of the intense fighting between government troops and Islamic State-inspired militants and would be known internationally as “The Battle of Marawi” or the “The Siege of Marawi”.

This horrifying incident was recalled by our new Peace Hero Carers from Lanao del Sur and when the topic of resiliency and peacebuilding arose, the conversation eventually stirred from the aftermath of the siege to its impact on the community members. Instead of using the term “fighters” to pertain to the militants, the subject became the “returnees” and how to rehabilitate and reintegrate them peacefully into society.

In June 2022 in Tirana, Albania, the key message was addressed by all the panelists at the Global Conference on Violent Extremism, co-organized by the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF): “Rehabilitation and reintegration are critical to international efforts to prevent violent extremism”. In the same thread, the Philippines recognizes the need to provide and support a comprehensive aftercare program that allows for the smooth transition of individuals back into their communities as stipulated in its National Action Plan on Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (NAP P/CVE); hence, Teach Peace Build Peace Movement (TPBPM) pilot test its Aftercare Peace Track (APT) under its Peace Heroes Formation Program (PHFP) to complement government efforts and other civil society organizations (CSOs) in other aspects of rehabilitation and reintegration

The PHFP APT started with a listening session in November 2019 to document the narratives of the returnees that serve as baseline data for an individual or group of people to join a certain group and to understand the correlation of their narratives before, during, and after in the development of their human behavior. Three (3) themes emerged from the series of listening sessions and consultations – Rediscovering Oneself, Restoring Relationships, and Reintegrating Peacefully, which the returnees and their families will undergo to help facilitate their peaceful and harmonious reintegration into their communities. About 50 community (adult and young) leaders, social workers, and uniformed personnel from Lanao del Sur were gathered together to be trained as “Peace Hero Carers” in preparation for the APT program implementation. Warmth filled the cafe and Kampo Ranao as the new Peace Hero carers recalled their APT training journey.

Rediscover Oneself

Sai Morohambsar is a Field Program Officer from the Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC). From his years of peacebuilding experience, he cited employment and education as pertinent issues among youth, so they train youth organizations on policy-making and program interventions. He has also met various youth-serving groups handling returnees; thus, part of their work in BYC is to accredit these organizations. He described himself as passionate in his advocacy to empower fellow youth to be the voice of their community. He thought he was already doing great but his APT training journey made him realize that there are still areas he can improve on.

“For almost 3 years na pagiging advocate, parang ang dami ko pa palang lapses na dapat kong marealize sa sarili ko (For almost 3 years of being an advocate, I realized that I have a lot of lapses). For example, lagi tayong nagsasalita to empower the youth pero ang dami pa palang dapat matutunan sa sa pag-cocommunicate peacefully (For example, I always talk about empowering the youth but the truth is, I still have to learn more about being able to communicate peacefully).”

The restorative chat session made him rediscover himself and become more sincere and genuine in his speaking engagements with his fellow youth. He became more mindful in his verbal and non-verbal communication and noted that this is also very useful in communicating with returnees.

Restore Relationships

Sergeant Sai Abdur Rahman Pandapatan, is a Muslim, Maranao and a member of the 12 Civil Military Operations Battalion of the Philippine Army. Serving the military for 14 years, he has engaged far-flung communities and witnessed that government interventions were inaccessible. He recognizes that this can lead to frustration and can be a push factor for community members to join extremist groups once the latter capitalizes on these negative emotions. He also witnessed the effects of the Marawi Siege on the families of returnees and victims during his 5-year deployment in the Municipality of Butig. He noticed that there are fellow Maranaos who are afraid and triggered as the Armed Forces of the Philippines were being blamed for the escalation and bombings that happened during the siege and the destruction of their homes and heritage. It is a daunting challenge how to restore the relationship between the local community and the state.

For Sgt. Pandapatan, his mission was straightforward, but his APT training journey made him perceive his mission differently. He realized that he has to do introspection to be more effective in his tasks and duties.

“Pero ang tumatak talaga sa akin, nandoon kami sa community, nilulutas namin ang problema nila. Pero ikaw sa sarili mo, mayroon ka ring problema, na dapat pala unahin ang sarili at pamilya. Kami na nilulutas ang problema ng iba tapos sa sarili namin hindi namin maayos, syempre paano ka magiging effective kung problemado ka, wala kang gana magtrabaho.”

(English translation: My key takeaway from the training is this: We go to communities to solve their problems, but I realize that I, too, have so many personal problems. I realize that I should learn how to resolve my own conflict situations first before I can be effective in offering solutions to other people’s problems. I also realized that it will negatively impact my work performance and my relationship with my colleagues.)

From these realizations, he is keen to perform his duties better by recognizing first his own psychological, social, and emotional needs. He intends to rebuild new and better relationships through his identities as a Muslim, as a Maranao, and as a member of the AFP. Apart from this, he is also determined to be the bridge between the returnees, the locals, and the state. He is hopeful that with the use of the APT toolkit, they will eventually have a more peaceful community.

Reintegrate Peacefully

Anuar Maute took a pause as he introduced himself. “I was waiting for your reaction when I told you my last name.” He knew people would raise their eyebrows when they hear that name and would think how he is associated with the Maute brothers who led the siege of Marawi City. He then proceeded to introduce his affiliated organization, Super Lumba, a youth-led volunteer group in Lanao del Sur. A series of livelihood, education, and peace-related training programs for returnees are being implemented by their organization, in collaboration with the local government units. Aside from being a volunteer member of Super Lumba, Anuar is also a TESD Specialist under the Ministry of Basic, Higher, and Technical Education. Their program’s free skills assessment, training certification, and referrals to local school boards for Alternative Learning Systems and further studies are components that Anuar described as contributing to lessening the discrimination against the returnees, especially those who did not have the chance to finish basic or higher education.

Similar to Sai, Anuar has been involved in numerous peacebuilding and education programs, but one of his realizations after undergoing the APT training journey is the importance of valuing the thoughts and acknowledging the emotions of the returnees. Anuar’s experience with intervention programs has always been a rigid and top-down approach.

“What I really appreciate is that the modules are returnees-centered. It’s more about themselves and not what we think they should learn.”

With the help of the PHFP APT Toolkit, Anuar also posits that a resilient and peaceful community looks promising.

Sai Morohambsar, Sergeant Sai Abdur Rahman Pandapatan, and Anuar Maute, three stories, three diverse backgrounds, but with one realization in their Aftercare Peace Track journey. Their training journey which starts from rediscovering themselves made them realize their own biases, lapses, and areas for improvement, and to give importance to their thoughts and feelings as these can affect their actions and in building relationships with others. On reintegrating peacefully, they realized that programs and interventions must be centered on compassion and empathy, and this is a critical component of a holistic aftercare program through peace education.

From the stories that were shared, it is very significant to note that for our APT Program to be successful, our carers have to discern the importance of having the right mindset and values to handle returnees. And we hope to continue this journey by sharing this first step with others so we can all journey together towards having an empathetic and compassionate caring community for every returnee and their families.

June 19, 2023 / by Sheyna Delos Reyes

Breaking barriers to bridge peace: The Story of the Philippine Muslim Student Association

While there are many things that one can do in building a culture of peace, the Philippine Muslim Student Association chose to begin the advocacy through understanding and compassion.

Shaping Perspectives Through the Environment

The Philippine Muslim Student Association (PHMSA) current President, Abdul Azis Malik, grew up at Sultan Dumalondong, near the training camp of the violent actor ISIS-inspired Maute group. This armed group was the one who initiated the Battle of Marawi back in 2017, which displaced thousands of civilians in Marawi City.

Because of their location, Malik saw firsthand the trauma the conflict brought to their community, especially among the children. Guns and other war paraphernalia were near the houses, and some of their relatives were recruited to fight against government forces. This incident brought government forces to roam around their area and inspect the civilians residing peacefully. He was also reclusive to his family members and was not aware of any initiatives for peacebuilding.

Due to the conflict, the unstable environment that Malik was living in made him develop a wrong impression of government forces. These experiences only reflect the impact that the surroundings can be potential recruiting grounds for younger people to join the armed conflict. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, exposure to conflict may make children more violent and more hostile to themselves and others. Because violent groups target children’s emotional, physical, and developmental vulnerabilities, it may lead to lifelong trauma and disenchanted perspective of the world.

A Better Understanding of Yourself and Others

In becoming part of the Peace Education Leadership Training Course organized by Teach Peace Build Peace Movement, PHMSA realized there are other ways for youth to be engaged in peacebuilding. Still, it would all start with nurturing your inner peace and being more compassionate to other people. Drawing from his learnings of the program, Malik realized that there are practical ways that the children and youth can contribute to building a culture of peace.

First, it is to know yourself better and acknowledge your past experiences. Malik recognized that harboring anger and sadness does not positively affect them. Instead, they should let go of these negative emotions for them to be able to move forward. They must learn to break the barriers within themselves so that they are not held back by these narratives of conflict.

Second, it is to build relationships with others through respect, understanding, and compassion. Once they have broken the barriers within themselves, they should be able to break their obstacles for other people. For Malik, it begins by developing their relationship with their family and spending more time fulfilling their responsibility as children. By building this relationship, there is trust within their home, and they can build a culture of peace in their community.

Third, find ways to connect your work with your advocacy. As the President of PMSA, he has influenced his school administration to conduct extra-curricular activities for students to be exposed to more peacebuilding initiatives. Malik linked his course on social work to peacebuilding by creating platforms within their schools where they can conduct workshops on cultivating inner peace through meditation, empowering others to start their own initiatives, and building a culture of peace among themselves.

The environment has an active influence on how an individual can see the world. These circumstances can draw up walls that prevent a better understanding of peace. By breaking these barriers, there can be opportunities to create safe spaces where the culture of peace can grow and thrive. In having these spaces, children and youth can be inspired to do good and be champions of peace.

June 12, 2023 / by Mc Jazer Malonda

Creating Safe and Peaceful Spaces for Children : The Story of Guinaopan Youth Action Organization

Sittie Asia Mai is a 27-year-old youth leader, teacher, and entrepreneur from Ditsa-an, Ramain Lanao del Sur. Her family is one of the thousands affected by the Marawi Siege last 2017. They lost everything that her father had built for their family – including their house and martial arts school, which provides self-defense classes and helps boost confidence in women and children.

The effect of the siege on children and youth troubled her. She felt severe anxiety, frustration, and depression because of all the conflict and violence around her. That’s why she started joining rallies to voice out her frustrations. Seeing people suffer from anxiety, misery, and extreme poverty motivated her to do something. Inspired by her father, an agriculturist, she organized a youth group. She started Mushrooms for Change to help provide employment to women and young people and help ease their living conditions.

Everything was going in the right direction until the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 happened. Because of the threat of the virus, travel restrictions, and health protocols, there were a lot of challenges in the program implementation and production of their products. “Because of the lockdown, I lost motivation – how will we market our products? I also found it hard to engage them (the youth) again because they have lost motivation in doing what we used to do”, as emotionally shared by Mai.

In 2021, her organization Guinaopan Youth Action Organization, is one of the ten organizations selected to participate in the Peace Education Leadership Formation Course for Youth Organizations supported by the Global Community Engagement Resilience Fund (GCERF). It is Sittie’s first training engagement after a few months of resting because of burnout.

She believes teaching peace to children is crucial because they are the future generation. “If their foundation is rooted in peace, it will surely flourish, and they’ll be agents of peace in the long run. On the contrary, if they learn negative ideologies at a young age, they’ll cause conflict.”

The training strengthened her commitment to continuing to work for peace. She also realized peace education is much more than concepts and theories. She appreciated the focus on cultivating inner peace and saw this as essential to being a youth leader.

“We cannot give what we don’t have. As peace education leaders, we need to cultivate our inner peace first to be more effective and to create more impact in our communities as we venture into bringing and building a culture of peace.”

As an organization, they do not usually have deep conversations about personal topics. But the culture of peace circle sessions strengthened their bond and deepened their commitment to their organization and advocacy. She could share more of herself and actively listen to her co-members’ struggles and challenges. This helped them connect more with one another and became a way to lessen their burdens. The training has helped them grow as a person and as an organization.

The training also gave birth to the organization’s first innovative peace education project. Project Bondingan is a peace education project that aims to teach peace to disadvantaged children in marginalized and remote areas of Ramain, Lanao del Sur.

“I want to be the inspiration and the reason for them to learn peace. I want to be a good influence and help create a safe and peaceful space for children to foster and nurture their inner peace.”

Today, Sittie, together with the members of her organization who are also part of the PELFC, has engaged their other members and capacitated them through Facilitators Training. They have also started the implementation of the Peace Education Lessons for Children through Project Bondingan. They believe that as peace heroes, they need to teach peace and build peace for children to learn how to be at peace, impart peace with others and live in peace.

June 12, 2023 / by Ate Badet

Small steps towards non-violence, Big steps for Culture of Peace: The Story of the Barimbingan Children

The Peace Hero Kids and Artists for Peace from Barimbingan Ditsaan, Ramain are Yaslani or “Nusqa,” Ryan, Abdul Qahar or “Bitoy,” Ismail or “Maki,” Janary or “Jana,” and Norjanah or “Jiya. Barimbingan is a locality in Lanao del Sur and situated nearby to the localities Pagalungan and Marawi. These children and their families witnessed the Marawi Siege, were exposed to the persisting family feuds or Rido in their community, and were subject to bullying in their schools.

Although the Marawi Siege happened six years ago, these children can still recall the simultaneous explosion of bombs and the exchange of gunfire. It negatively impacted both their way of life and their academic performance, being accustomed to the blasts as they occur every day for a month.

“It was so loud and scary at first, but for the past months of siege, it’s like we learn how those blasts became normal to us. We take it like a firework for us not to be shocked. But I can’t forget the struggle of my parents to buy our food to eat at that time. They told us that prices are high even in Ramain; people from Marawi buy foods in their place to survive the day.”
– Nusqa

Children are regarded as one of the most vulnerable groups in any armed conflict situation. Like youth, children can become passive victims or violent offenders because of misguidance. There are numerous stories of the Marawi Siege wherein children between the ages of 7 and 12 express interest in joining ISIS or the ISIS-inspired group because they were exposed to violence. Therefore, it is essential to offer these children the necessary intervention so they will realize their potential for nonviolence and peace. This backs up Erik Erikson’s psychosocial development theory that children are already searching for their sense of self and personal identity, purpose, and sense of belongingness between the ages of 12 and 19 through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals.

Teach Peace Build Peace Movement (TPBPM) strongly believe in the importance of teaching peace in a child’s formative years, and by introducing the peace hero principle and the role of the arts in engaging their young minds in peacebuilding. These teachings can help develop their inner peace. Also, by managing negative emotions and their struggles, they will be equipped to build peaceful relationships amidst conflict in their environment.

Although I am just five years old, I can’t forget how our life was so difficult at that time; we had to secure our food for weeks because we were not sure where to get any more since people from other areas were buying here in Barimbingan.”
– Jannah

Before joining Peace Hero Kids Ambassadors Program and Artist for Peace Mentoring Sessions, the Barimbingan children regarded themselves as lacking awareness of the importance of peace in their lives. They mentioned the presence of bullying situations in their school wherein some initiated fights and some were victims. This is worrisome for most children as bullying can lead to Rido. As parents or family members of both ‘victims’ involve themselves in the bullying situations of their children, they tend to become hostile toward each other.

Since the neighborhood in Barimbingan is all in the same family line of relatives, some parents bypass the teachers and school administrator in reporting bullying incidents and will go directly to the family.

“Before, my parents took it personally and had a grudge against my classmate’s family because of a fight. In our minds, we know we can reconcile as kids, but when our parents discover that we are involved in a fight, it can lead to conflict between adults.”
– Bitoy

The lessons about conflict resolution and managing emotions helped Barimbingan children understand that bullying and the siege can be prevented. They learned that conflicts are not something you ignore or be indifferent to as they can do something to avoid violent conflict – like being a role model to fellow children, forming peaceful habits, and helping their household. Their learning gave them a sense of responsibility that paved the way for kids to build their self-esteem. Being responsible builds independence, which grows because of making choices, getting help with daily routines, and gaining control over their own life (Zoromski, 2017).

“Even until now, I got the habit of helping with chores in our homes, I made my mother smile, and she’s proud that she can see how peace sessions changed me.”

As these children learned about peace heroism, they now posit that bullying is a harmful act that mistreats others and promotes violence. They have realized that it must be stopped and resort to reconciliation should bullying happen again to them or other kids. As Peace Hero Kid Ambassadors, they have understood a peaceful and positive response to conflict.

In summary, the Barimbingan children were exposed to the violent conflict before the Marawi Siege. As these conflicts become part of their “normal” environment, there is a higher probability of becoming perpetrators in their adult life. Human interaction inevitably involves conflict, which we may experience at a young age, such as in the case of Barimbingan children. Disputes in a community or at a school involve disagreements, arguments, and physical violence; thus, children should start learning how to handle conflict. The earlier they can manage it, the sooner they can cultivate a strong self-awareness.

Instilling the peace hero principle and showing the role of art in building a Culture of Peace, our Barimbingan children understand the importance of non-violence to themselves and their community. Allowing children to have a sense of responsibility and introducing peaceful habits can redirect them to safe spaces and violent extremist ideologies.

June 12, 2023 / by Peace Hero

Leading Change: The Story of Amer Kuday

Amer Kuday is a 13-year-old boy currently studying in Taguig, Metro Manila. He is Maguindanaoan and a proud and devoted Muslim. He was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but was raised in Southern Philippines. Amer’s father has told him countless stories of the war that he has lived through, stories of young children holding weapons because, for them, it was the only way to defend or protect themselves. Amer dreamed and he thought, “Paano ko kaya sila matutulungan?”

Amer’s father relocated them to Maharlika Village, Taguig, Metro Manila’s most prominent Muslim community, to protect his family and secure a better life.

Little did he know that his son would still be haunted by the war they so desperately ran away from.

Before, Amer was bullied by his classmates.

You are from Mindanao, right? You’re poor. What do you even know?

(Galing ka ng Mindanao di ba? Mahirap lang kayo. Ano ba’ng alam mo?)

Prejudice branded Amer as poor and needy despite being from a family of enough means and ignorant despite being able to attend school. It was a struggle for him, constantly dreading what his classmates would think, see, and say about him.

Amer thought he would never make friends; Lagi siyang nahihiya, kinakabahan at natatakot. The bullying extended to his religious beliefs. At the time of the siege of Marawi City in 2017, Amer experienced the worst of it all. His classmates made him feel like he was a bad person. “Galing ka ng Mindanao di ba? Marami kayong mga Muslim doon, di ba? Masasama ang mga tao doon. Nakakatakot sa lugar ninyo.”

You are from Mindanao, right? Most of you are Muslims, right? Your place is so scary; most of you are terrorists.

To cope, Amer kept repeating that he did not participate in the siege, that his family was not part of it, he was not part of it. He could not understand why his classmates and neighbors also thought of him and his family as a perpetrator. It was all over the news, his Facebook feed, and other social media pages. He kept wondering why people were doing this to them when all his family ever wanted was to be away from the war happening in their hometown.

Knowing what it feels like to be bullied and discriminated against and feeling helpless and hopeless. Amer became interested in the Peace Heroes Formation Program of the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement (TPBPM). This program was introduced at his school in October 2021. At first, Amer only wanted to be in a quiet space, away from his classmates who bullied him and far from those who looked down on him and his fellow Muslims. The isolation was what he thought peace to be.

But, the program gave him a different perspective that …

“Peace means being calm inside in the midst of conflict around us.“

Kapayapaan na nagmumula sa ating mga sarili kahit ang gulo-gulo na ng ating paligid.

Amer wanted to understand and witness this idea of peace.

Initially, Amer was scared that if he introduced himself as a Muslim during the sessions, he would be bullied again, but his friends, who were also part of the program, encouraged him; and he gradually became more comfortable. He learned mindfulness and meditation and made a habit out of it.

It has helped him deal with his emotions better. He says that he has learned how to stay calm instead of being angry when confronted with negativities. He is treated equally and fairly Within the group with his fellow peace heroes; they find no judgment in what he wears, eats, or prays. They listen to what he shares with them. He has understood bullying and discrimination – why people do it and how to deal with them. He has learned to practice peaceful communication and show respect, love, and compassion for others.

Amer says he has started to dream again and hopes that no other child goes through the bullying and discrimination he went through.

From not believing that peace can be achieved and that he can contribute to building peace in his school and community, Amer now believes that the presence of peace should be around us – in social media, in our homes, schools, district, and most importantly, from within. He firmly believes that every child deserves a peaceful community. His siblings and his friends deserve it; even those who bully and discriminate against him earn it.

He now believes that he has a voice even as a child and that he can build a culture of peace in his own ways and spheres of influence.

Amer is a student and a dreamer. Amer is a Peace Hero. He is part of our Community of Peace Heroes

and a Peace Hero Kids Network member.

The story of Amer shows us that children from a conflict-affected area migrating to Metro Manila still cannot escape from the wounds caused by war, recruitment by violent groups, nor be engaged with negative influences. His story and every story of our children and youth in the Peace Heroes Formation Program showed us the importance of looking into the personal and psychological dimension of protecting our children, preventing them from joining violent groups, and committing acts that can harm themselves. We do this alongside teaching them peaceful ways and non-violent solutions to the existing challenges in their communities.

June 12, 2023 / by Sheyna Delos Reyes

Empowering Youth Leaders to Become Peace Heroes: The Story of Youth Engaged in Shakba

While their main focus is on youth engagement on active citizenship and governance, Youth Engaged in Shakba realized the need to also be proactive in another advocacy that relates to democracy: peace.

Reflections before a peace journey

Before joining the peace journey, Youth Engaged in Shakba (YES) was implementing activities on youth leadership and democracy. They aim to produce a new generation of youth leaders who will be able to meaningfully represent their sector. Individually, the organizers of YES are yet to integrate peacebuilding into their advocacy.

One of their representatives, Sanira Bocua Gambai, shared that they are still determining where to begin in peace advocacy given that many peacebuilding efforts are already around them. Moreover, YES is a newly-founded organization, and they can still learn many things from other advocacy organizations. For Sanira, they have yet to be made aware of what meaningful contribution their organization can make.

Meanwhile, YES representatives Alaisa Mitmug Alixander, Nashrib Abol, and Salahudin Amintao Mangontra, had stories in which their skills and capacity in peacebuilding are yet to be nurtured. Citing their personal experiences, Alaisa said there were instances in which they are yet to be mindful of their thoughts, words, or actions concerning being peace champions. For Nashrib and Salahudin, they have yet to be empowered enough to convey and express themselves in front of a large group of people.

These experiences drew from their lack of awareness of other ways that peace can be included in their day-to-day interactions. Integrating peace education can strengthen and empower the relationship of young individuals with their families, community, and state entities. It affects their emotional development by promoting a culture of peace within their homes and communities and within themselves.

Having Courage to Share Your Pieces of Peace

Through Teach Peace Build Peace Movement, YES was able to learn and practice their peacebuilding skills by applying them to their work and implementing activities related to peace education.

For Salahudin, the relationships that they were able to build during the Culture of Peace and Boundary Break were one of their core memories that they will not be able to forget because the activity enabled them to share their own narratives, interact with other advocates, and address prejudices and biases among the participants. This activity provided them with a deeper appreciation of other people’s initiatives and understanding of peace.

Sanira and Alaisa, on the other hand, found their participation at TPBPM helpful in having the confidence to mindfully assess their thoughts and speak their minds to their colleagues. Among the things they would replicate in their activities is the sense of acknowledgment that there are no right or wrong answers because of diverse perspectives and protecting your inner peace in challenging situations. Both of them found the value of public speaking in conducting activities on peace education.

Sharing their experiences beyond the program, Nashrib mentioned their observation when people began reaching out to them and indicated their interest in joining their organization. At their homes, their relatives and friends noticed the positive change in their behavior with how they interacted with their peers and communicated their feelings. There were also instances that people came to them for advice because of the skills they gained as peace heroes.

The way that they integrate peace into their daily acts also cascades into the work that they do. One of the noticeable changes they noticed is the increase in the participation of the communities in their activities. More parents come to them to ask for the list of upcoming trainings as they want their children to become peace heroes like them. Some children willingly participated in their activities because they were having fun and learning simultaneously.

The courage that they found attending TPBPM was the same courage that they drew from whenever they are implementing their projects.

For Alaisa, this courage helps her correct prejudices and empower other people.

For Sanira, this courage provides a space of understanding and empathy to other experiences.

For Salahudin and Nashrib, this courage gives them confidence to approach people and share their learnings.

For them, this courage is important in building a culture of peace because this empowers them to find peaceful means to resolve conflicts and carry out approaches in building a culture of peace in their respective homes and communities.

June 12, 2023 / by Mc Jazer Malonda

Making Self-care A Peaceful Habit: The Story of Moriatao o Ranao

Getting isolated during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic took a toll on everyone’s inner peace, Moriatao o Ranao found a peaceful way to deal with it.

Coping with Isolation

Retelling their struggles during the pandemic, Mariatao o Ranao representative Adbulhakim Alimona shared that being isolated from other people affected his mental health. While they wanted to help others, they were limited by the quarantine restrictions and fear of catching the virus.

According to monitoring reports by civil society organizations, twenty-one recorded armed hostilities occurred during the lockdown between March 2020 to June 2020 in the Bangsamoro region. The pandemic has further broadened the vulnerabilities of younger individuals, such as a poor sense of belongingness and exposure to conflict propaganda. These issues were breeding grounds for violent groups to potentially recruit the youth to join the armed conflict.

Nurturing inner peace through UG5

Fortunately, Alimona was selected by Mariatao o Ranao to be part of the Peace Education Leadership Training Course organized by the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement. In this training, they found the Five Acts of Universal Goodness (UG5) to be vital learning for their organization and themselves.

UG5 is a practice that covers a holistic approach on cleanliness, orderliness, politeness, punctuality, and meditation. It covered the utmost essential requirements to nurture the inner peace of an individual and develop overall well-being from their physical body to their social interaction.

Alimona shared that this approach to living is an important lesson that should be conveyed to communities, especially children and youth like themselves. They said one should also be aware of their own needs to understand each other. For them, the psychosocial sessions helped them understand different principles for protecting their inner peace to be influential peace heroes.

As part of a youth organization, they shared that they were now more equipped to implement peace sessions because they better understood the concept of peace. They can embody and promote the culture of peace as an individual and as an organization. By caring for themselves and each other, they can be a stronger unit to institutionalize peace education in their community. This approach builds trust among themselves, which will be the first step as they reach out to communities.

With a deep concern for children and youth, Alimona emphasized gaining trust from the communities so that they can work together and encourage a more productive approach to countering narratives of conflict. For Alimona, if the children in their community are not exposed to practices related to peace and grow up not learning about peace education, they may go astray and pursue a path that could lead to conflict and violence.

By taking care of themselves and protecting their inner peace, they would be more capable in sharing peace to others. The cooperation between their organization and their communities lies in the trust brought by the mutual practice and observation of peace values.

June 12, 2023 / by Mc Jazer Malonda

Category: Peace Education

Cultivating Inner Peace through Spoken Poetry: The Story of Noraya Unda

Drawing circles of peace for oneself and others: The Story of Anwar Acrab

Speaking Peace From The Heart: The Story of Maguidala Usman

The First Step in Caring for Returnees

Breaking barriers to bridge peace: The Story of the Philippine Muslim Student Association

Creating Safe and Peaceful Spaces for Children : The Story of Guinaopan Youth Action Organization

Small steps towards non-violence, Big steps for Culture of Peace: The Story of the Barimbingan Children

Leading Change: The Story of Amer Kuday

Empowering Youth Leaders to Become Peace Heroes: The Story of Youth Engaged in Shakba

Making Self-care A Peaceful Habit: The Story of Moriatao o Ranao

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