PV III: Celebrating Diversity

Children of Peace

The children came again, journeying like pilgrims from far and wide, to gather together for peace. For a few days once more, the children lived their common hope for a nonviolent world and learned the ways to keep the hope alive.

The thousand young children and their mentors gave life to the Peace Village of Northern Mindanao – the third of its kind in less than two years, on the initiative of the Department of Education in Region X. It was held on October 22 – 25, 2007, in Tubod, Lanao del Norte, with the DepEd Schools Division in the province hosting and coordinating the activities.

Eleven other schools divisions in the northern region of Mindanao participated in the 2007 peace event, sending close to 400 representatives all in all, mostly young learners from the elementary and secondary schools. They camped in the site, not by pitching tents of cloth or canvass, but by erecting huts of wood, bamboo and nipa. Twenty seven more real huts served as dwellings for the more than 650 peace advocates from the host division.

The whole effect lent a sense of permanence and reality to the scene. One felt walking into a real village and meeting happy young people as denizens. One felt at ease and at peace. It was “Peace Village” living up to its name, in both its figurative and literal senses.

That was what the idea was all about. Fostering a culture of peace among children goes beyond the classroom and into the outside world - reaching out to children in the family, in the community. UNESCO illustrated the point when it said, “When children participate actively in sports, dance, theatre and artistic activities, they learn the rules of fair play and the values of sharing – and these are some of the attitudes and behaviors that constitute a culture of peace.”

A culture of peace is what the Peace Village aims to promote among its “residents”, especially the young. Village activities have aimed to enhance or develop precisely those “values, attitudes and forms of behavior that reflect respect for life, for human dignity and for all human rights” – in an educative, non-formal setting that encourages exploration, expression and discovery.

Village learning is unlearning the ways of violence; it is learning the ways of peace.    -MLBM

Read more:  Peace Village III Key Activities

PV II: Staying the Course

Background

The Department of Education, Lanao del Norte Division hosted the 2nd Northern Mindanao Peace Village on November 20-24, 2006 at the Capitol Grounds, Tubod, Lanao del Norte.

The Peace Village provided the venue for 588 elementary and high school students aged 10-16 to learn about each other and build friendship and understanding, in a relaxed, fun-filled environment. Delegates came from the 12 DepEd Divisions in the Northern Mindanao Region, covering five provinces and 7 cities.

The activities in the Village aimed at developing three values and attitudes essential in fostering a culture of peace:

1. Understanding Oneself: having a sense of self-worth and pride in ones particular social, cultural and family background;
2. Understanding Others: having respect for others especially those with social, cultural and family background different from ones own; and,
3. Caring for the Environment: accepting responsibility in taking care of the environment and knowing their over-all place in the web of life.

Read more:  Peace Village II Key Activities

The Road to Peace Village

The Peace Village initiative traces its beginning three years back to a cultural exchange between groups of young people from Lanao del Norte and from the Smokey Mountain in Tondo, Manila. It offered a venue for Christian and Muslim youth to exchange knowledge about each other’s culture for deeper understanding.

The seminal activity was called Cultural Youth Exchange for Peace and Prosperity. In January 2004, a cultural dance group from the Smokey Mountain, calling itself Mga Anak ni Inang Daigdig (MAID), paid Lanao del Norte a visit and staged a cultural presentation celebrating the diverse cultures of the Philippines.

MAID brought with them 160 second-hand computers and matching e-learning modules from the Sandiwaan Learning Center in Tondo, which were exchanged with Maranao artifacts. The computers spurred the building of ten e-Learning Centers in Lanao del Norte, as supervised by the Division’s Alternative Learning System for the out-of school youth. These centers have also maintained five libraries with an initial collection of 48,000 books, also from Sandiwaan.

Adding more meaning to the event was the exposure of the visitors from Manila to a Maranao village in the province, which allowed them a real taste of Maranao living.

The learning was mutual. The Maranao children learned the games and poems from Luzon, while the children from Manila enjoyed being a part of Pagana Maranao/ Kanduri, a festive Maranao celebration to welcome visitors. Capping the exchange was a dialogue between the hosts and the visitors on issues of peace and prosperity.

Lanao del Norte DepEd Superintendent, Dr. Maria Luisa B. Mutia, hoped to replicate the same exchange between and among students within the Northern Mindanao Region. She proposed to broaden the objective to include the appreciation and understanding of the diverse cultures, not only of Christians and Muslims, but of the Lumads as well, to complete the tri-people of Mindanao.

All these inspired the holding of the Northern Mindanao Peace Village in May 2006, the first ever. The event has leaped beyond the aim of cultural understanding into creating a culture of peace through peace education, and gathered delegates from the 12 divisions of Northern Mindanao.

It was an experience rich and fulfilling enough to call for a second initiative six months later in November 2006. The goal has been to maintain the initiative as an annual event enlivened by new designs and approaches to make each one a unique fun-filled learning experience for fostering a culture of peace.