Hopes in a vacuum

MuCAARD is such an amazing organisation and for an organisation which has almost no funds it is still achieving much. It is truly inspirational and that is why I would recommend people donate (visit the website www.mucaard-uk.org). The staff are amazing and many of them work as volunteers and donate al thier spare time to the cause. It is humbling.

This is the area in which RIAP currently work.




And these are the areas in which RIAP would like to work, the villages they would like to reach but haven't as yet due to lack of funds.



Some of these places have had no outside or government help since the conflict in 2008. These are very remote communities which most large NGOs (many of whom have now pulled out of the Philippines as it is not considered low enough on the development ladder) couldn't get to and wouldn't consider getting to due to the security risks but because MuCAARD is local and works through networks on the ground they could do so much if only given the chance. I sat through a meeting with RIAP staff listening to the heartbreaking appeal of one of them as he was so keen to help and so broken by the realisation that he could not and that these people were left without anyone.


One must ask oneself, "What are we doing?"

The sheer gratitude

The people helped by these small grants provided by JRS, whether thee be for skills training, planting vegetable gardens, investing in livestock or starting a small business, are all so very grateful for the little they have and the help they have received. Watching them in their joy, graitude and beauty, you feel ashamed for yourself, for the place you come from- for all the selfishness and depression we fall victim to. It really makes you think and reassess priorities. It also makes you reassess development and the best ways forward. Their happiness is infectious.

Heartbeaking stories

This lady had a very sad and unfortunate story. She was internally displaced due to the conflict back in 2008. She originated from an area far from this village of Buluan where we were assessing projects when we met her. SHe was one fo the few Christians in this predominantly Muslim community and had travelled with her children in the hope of finding a safe place in the uncertainty of the conflict. She did not have a husband and was unable to return home. For three years her and her children had been residing in one room in the home of a relative. 3 years is a long time to live somwhere which is not your own in such uncertainty and it was now giving rise to conflicts within the family. She was so glad to have been given an opportunity to work with the JRS project planting vegetables for the community and for herself. All she really wanted was to be able to have a house of her own for her and her children........
It is heartbreaking to watch a grown woman cry out of desperation and trying to control it in a public forum.

The Jesuits!!

The Jesuit Refugee service (I realise you may not have heard of it but look it up) funds a few of the small scale projects run by RIAP. Whilst I was in Mindanao we had a visit by one of the their project coordinators- a priest, father Bernard- to evaluate the impact of the projects and where they could go from here. I was priveleged to be able to visit projects run in partnerhsip with them. They are small scale but making a huge impact in these remote rural communities that were severely affected by the conflict in August 2008 and many of whom are still IDPs (internally deisplaced people). These communities have received little or no help from other NGOs or the government itself and are in dire need.

We had to stop on the way and check in with the Military outpost to gain their "permission" to carry on and so they knew who we were and where we were going. Safety first!



The Roads to some of the projects were very very bad, we had to take a four wheel drive car but one that would fit us all and that wasn't too low otherwise it wouldn't make it on the terrain. Even then it got stuck and we had to walk the last bit.



The tap was installed by the JRS project as before they had to walk far in order to get water, even at night. There was no running water of the kind we are used to and still isn't.


This village (Bansayan) also wants/needs a school - as JRS is a small scale funder, they have to really evaluate the needs of the community and how to best impact them and work with them on improving their lot. This can often mean helping them meet their needs themselves to a large extent therefore requiring an intelligent social model with minimal funding reliance.

Marawi State University

Marawi Museum

University Buildings



The campus is so big they have their own transport network!



The University Golf course and park


Getting their priorities right- the lake in Marawi has been greatly polluted over the years due to agricultural chemicals and such, fishing is now poor and the water level has decreased- it is an area of great importance for them that needs to be focussed on.

The ARMM - ooooo!

The Armed Regions of Muslim Mindanao (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindanao and http://www.muslimmindanao.ph/armm.html) are an area which the British Foreign Office advised me from not entering via email but that is where many of MuCAARDs projects are based and where 3 of it's teams have their headquarters. My first visits into this area were to Balindong- the headquarters of POM- and to Marawi which is actually called the "Islamic City of Marawi" and has majority i.e. like 99% Muslim population. The only Christians being mainly at the university campus which has a large non-local student population.

Marawi

The area where the office is located-











The RIAP Office

A Balindong welcome

MuCAARD, the Muslim Christian Agency for Advocacy Relief and Development (www.mucaard-uk.org or www.mucaard.org), the charity with which I worked is made up of the Secretariat and 4 member teams- POM, RIAP, BISAP and CoSEED.

MuCAARD member team 1- POM in Balindong - offices




Our accommodation for the first night


The team



The Lombayao (the area) Ittihad Coop - Coop shop. Set up by locals with the help of MuCAARD team POM. There is a daycare centre too. At the time they were working on a business plan to sell the local Maranao coffee to larger markets outside of Balindong.


Culture of Peace training

Somie (the trainer in this photo) is often called on by local goverment oficials to help in peace building/conflict situations for his knowledge and experience. He started in Mucaard at the tender age of 19, built on experince and is now a trainer himself.


Training is mixed and calls on local women too, breaking down cultural gender barriers and building stonger communties through it. Mucaard is making real change.



What creates a Culture of Peace?
It begins at the personal level


The 2 Donkeys- Conflict resolution and building a culture of peace and cooperation, all in one simple drawing.


The session was split into groups fro workshop sessions and they were asked towork on different themes. This man (very sweet) and his group had the theme of undertsanding. His diagram represented the lack of equality and understanding. There is no equal share of resources.


He wanted me to relay a message- The bananas represent the resources, the big man=Europe, the small man=Mindanao. Why does Europe have so many resources when it has so many fewer people than the third world? Why are resources not shared? What about Mindanao and the Maranao Muslims? They are kept small, kept from growing whilst the West grows big and strong.

A trip up the Muleta

Part of the plan to help increase development in the Triangle area is to provide them with health services. One of the ways of doing this is regular visits by outside health professionals, like the doctor from Damulog, but the best way is to train local people to act in the doctors stead on non-serious cases- local health workers and midwives. Discussing this idea with the locals was the main reason for this trip. We visited Bala, Kitas and Pagompong.

Taking the boat up the river



The first thing we see on approaching the village is the masjid/mosque so of course I have to check it out...... the next thing is the sound of the Qur'an. SubhanAllah. It was Jummah and I managed to pray in Jama'at when we reached Pagompong.




The Classroom they had managed to set-up on their own showing their commitmen to education. JTS would soon be building them a more permanent school buildiing.



Town meeting



Sharing the boat back up river- they had been involved in helping some local Lumad (indigenous tribes) defend their land from groups hired by a corrupt official to try and drive them away so that a major corporation could have the land for palm oil plantations. Most fo the conflict here bascially comes down to Land. They are just normal farmers defending their homes/land and catching a ride home- not at all what you expect from rebels, quiet and humble, no rowdiness whatsoever- not very Hollywood.




An Imam, a Fighter, a Farmer

First Venture into Rebel Territory- Balud

My first visit to the "Rebel areas" took place in a Dump truck-



The terrible state of roads



The country we trekked through



Trekking to the village- they are remote and hard to get to, can only get there by motor bike or by walking




The view of the hills and farms



The village of Balud in the distance



The school that was built through the programme set up by Romy's team in conjuction with JTS (Joint Together Society) A Korean Buddhist organisation



The Commander of the village - not what you would expect but a very tall man (at least 3 wives and A LOT of children)



Village meeting on where to go from here- the importance of education and the progress that has been made, also discussed tree planting projects.

Damulog- Peace zone

Damulog Peace Zone


The Citizen's Charter of Damulog



Accountability


The Muleta-Pulangi Triangle (Known as the Rebel's Nest/Sanctuary as this is where lot of the Rebel commanders retreated to and made their home in the long conflict, these areas were cut off form the main villages and hadn't received government services in over 40 years)



So when Mayor Romy Tiongco took office back in 2007, he made Damulog a demilitarised zone, insisted on the removal of all army outposts and began the process of declaring it a Peace zone as it is today. Mayor Romy and his team are working on building a dialogue with the rebels through development- building peace through development. They are extending services to the rebel areas which haven't had any help for such a long time.