Baimonah “Ma’am Bai” Mamacol is a grade 6 teacher at Buayaan Elementary School in Ditsaan, Ramain Lanao del Sur. She has ten years of teaching experience and is a mother of four. She enjoys going to training seminars for her professional growth. Her family is native to the town of Ditsaan-Ramain, one of the communities closest to Marawi. She remembered vividly the terror they had to live through in Marawi as the fighting persisted.

Ma’am Bai is a participant in the Peace Education Leadership Formation Course for Educators, which trained teachers on how to integrate peace education in schools as well as how to live peacefully and incorporate peaceful practices into their daily lives.

During the Marawi Siege, she and her family decided to stay to protect their properties until the siege was over. Until now, she finds it unbelievable how the sounds of bombs going off and gunfire started to become a part of their daily lives at that time. They must take longer trips each week around Lanao Lake to Iligan, which is five times longer, to buy and maintain their daily needs. They have been able to survive without electricity for the past four months because Marawi’s primary source had to be shut down for security reasons. Because of the stress, worry, and hassle of daily life, she came to understand the value of instilling peace in her students.

She learned a lot during the siege about being a Muslim, a daughter, and a parent. She is aware that she can help her students, but she is unsure of how to get started. She remembers how, when schools in Lanao opened a month after the siege, the importance of peace education became essential. Since students decided to attend classes during that time of ongoing fighting in Marawi, it put her profession as a teacher to the test. She can only hope that there are ways to teach peace or even a proper way to process her student’s feelings and have inner peace from the ongoing conflict.

Years after, Ma’am Bai met Teach Peace Build Peace Movement (TPBPM); she heard that an organization would train not only students but the teacher and parents, too, in an inclusive and holistic approach to peace education. They believe that every part of our society and our community has a role to play. She was enthusiastic when she heard about the learning opportunities for peace education. She is aware that teachers, like the students, would appreciate these lessons being imparted to their lives, as they were also victims of the Marawi siege.

Throughout the course, she came to understand that there are internal paths to achieving peace in addition to an external battle for harmony. She learned how being gentle with her students would impact her outlook on life. She felt most at ease when she became gentle. She concludes that being gentle involves treating not just others but also ourselves.

“It surprised me how I changed from being a nag when they are naughty or misbehaving to becoming gentler and implementing peaceful classroom management. It also made me feel good.”

She enjoys learning about different love languages and how to use them with different people in her life. First, her family. As a mother of four, she is now more aware of the needs of each of her children because they all express their love in different ways. Then she goes to work, where the faculty members may have different views and guiding principles, but after the lesson, something has changed in the way they approach misunderstanding and differences.

“Like any other workplace, we teachers encounter misunderstandings also. But after the program, we learned tolerance and gained more understanding that we have different stories and struggles. I learned that there were conflicts that we needed to peacefully resolve, especially if it would affect other people in the school, and we do not want students to see us fighting over little things.”

She enjoys learning about different love languages and how to use them with different people in her life. First, her family. As a mother of four, she is now more aware of the needs of each of her children because they all express their love in different ways. Then she goes to work, where the faculty members may have different views and guiding principles, but after the lesson, something has changed in the way they approach misunderstanding and differences.

Addressing the trauma from her firsthand experiences of violence and conflict, Isah Comacasar drew new strength to find better approaches to building a culture of peace within their school and community.

Facing trauma from conflict

It was during the first day of Ramadan when Isah went to Marawi. Recalling the memory like it happened yesterday, she remembered the first day of the city’s siege. She was riding a tricycle when an unknown armed person halted them and asked for an identification card from the driver. When the driver could not provide one, he was shot on the spot in front of Isah. The experience brought her trauma as she could not do anything for one month.

Weeks passed, and the continuous firefight was normalized in their daily life. Yet, the trauma brought by her encounter increased her anxiety and fear. There were moments she ran straight out of her house and forgot to get her child. Because of the lack of transportation, she also had to feed her child different milk brands.

After the siege, Isah returned to her work as a teacher and noticed her behavior toward her students. She was more easily agitated and annoyed. A messy environment or unruly behavior can quickly trigger her. Her annoyance affected the school environment, including her interactions with her colleagues.

Studies show that witnessing or experiencing conflict can be a precursor to psychological or social issues. These concerns become opportunities for violent extremist groups to provoke individuals to commit violent acts or make them subjected to submission and fear. It can also become an entry point to make the individual more sensitive to intrusive thoughts or violent behavior.

Finding The Need for Inner Peace

With an opportunity to be part of the Peace Education Leadership Formation Course of the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement, Isah started her peace journey by facing and healing the trauma caused by her experience. Her participation in one of the inner peace sessions made her process and reflected on the encounter she witnessed. She also started to take care of her inner peace and be more mindful of her surroundings.

By being more aware of her actions, Isah tried her best to understand her students and refrained from letting her emotions take hold of her actions. She used deep breathing techniques to calm herself before going to work or finding ways to relax on her way home. Isah also took a moment during the Culture of Peace Circle to apologize to her colleagues for any misbehavior that she unintentionally did.

Drawing from her experiences and observation, Isah expressed the need for peace education to provide practical ways to protect one’s inner peace and share that peace with others. As a teacher, she understood the need to impart the values of respect, empathy, and kindness so that students themselves can be peace advocates.

To be able to impart peace, Jamellah Alih found that one should be able to foster peace within themselves first.

When Doubt Disturbs One’s Peace of Mind

For Jamellah, fulfilling the role of teaching continues after the usual lessons within classrooms. They pass on to their students the values of compassion and gratefulness. These acts of kindness motivated their students to create thank-you cards that the teacher uploaded to their social media accounts.

However, recalling an instance when a parent went to the school to attack them, Jamellah found themselves doubting their capability as a teacher. Without warning, the parent went straight to the student who was said to be bullying their child. The teacher tried to intervene and mediate between the parent and the child, only for them to become the center of the blame. The enraged parent made Jamellah feel insecure about their responsibility and that they should be held accountable for the accusations.

After this experience, Jamellah always felt that a parent or a child would suddenly come and attack them. They placed themselves in an uncomfortable position of self-doubt and extreme criticism of their actions. The stress brought by the encounter also brought them fatigue and loss of appetite.

The culture of hate and violence can manifest in various forms, including self-hatred brought by doubt and insecurity. Studies show that among the drivers of violent extremism are the individual motivations and processes which become ‘pull factors’ for them to be vulnerable to violent behavior. Jamellah’s experience of contempt for oneself can bring them to mirror that hate toward others.

^{_{Rediscovering The Passion}}

When they joined the Peace Education Leadership Formation Course of the Teach Peace Build Peace Movement, she became aware of protecting one’s inner peace through meditation, mindfulness, and cyber peace. They started to focus on protecting their inner peace and found ways to cultivate a peaceful environment for themselves.

At one time, Jamellah was scrolling through social media when they found an album filled with thank-you cards from their past students. These posts reminded them why they took a teaching profession – for the children. To keep this drive, they found protecting their inner peace an essential part of sustainability.

Soon, they became more aware of their thoughts and actions in face-to-face interactions and online conversations. The content they posted and shared was sensitive to other people’s feelings. They also ensured that these posts were not misleading or instigating negative discussions.

Learning that conflict will always be a part of life, Jamellah now faced these struggles with deep breaths and an open mind. They know that how they think, see, feel, and hear will always reflect the peace values they want to impart to their students.