Invest in Muslim youth volunteering for peace

On the night of 16^th December 2011, Northern Mindanao was struck by Typhoon Sendong (International name Washi)  killing 1,472 people and injuring 1,748. There are also over 1,000 still missing.  Iligan City where KI is based, was hit by devastating flash floods which resulted in the deaths of at least 695 people and the destruction  of over 5,000 properties and 15,000 more damaged.

 KI staff and volunteers immediately began helping with the relief effort. This included packing and distributing relief goods and offering counselling to victims. Many more of our former volunteers are now working with the International Aid Agencies now present to assist in the humanitarian relief effort to the thousands of victims.

 The office of KI was also flooded with 7 feet of water resulting in the loss of most of our equipments and vital paperwork. Luckily, some items were able to be rescued by members of staff. Former KI volunteers, some coming from other parts of the country, gave up their vacation time to help clean up the office and then take part in the ongoing relief effort.

 KI has now resumed normal operations but as we write, there are still many thousands in evacuation centers and still many bodies unrecovered.

 On a happier note. KI has now recruited 10 new volunteers (7 Women and 3 Men) that will form our 7^th batch. We had over 70 applicants and through our selection these were whittled down to 24 who underwent an assessment day at the KI Office during late January

 These volunteers are currently undergoing their one training which is due to finish at the end of February. They will then commence their placements around the middle of March. Once again, without YOUR vital support our program would not be able to run this year. So thank you.

Dear Friends and Supporters

Be proud of yourselves!

KI is happy to announce, due in no small part to your kindness and generosity, that we are able to start recruiting our 7^th batch of volunteers.  We have started the recruitment process now and will begin selection and training in January 2012. We aim to have 10 volunteers in their placements, working for peace by March 2012.

KI has also secured partial support for the project from the Australian Government through the Regional Communities Outreach Program of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. However, this only covers part of our costs and your donations are vital to the continuation of the project. We run a streamlined organization, keeping our operating costs to a bare minimum, so that we can train as many volunteers as possible.

Thank you again for your support

Mariam

Focus on Fatima

We are very proud of Ms. Fatima Bantao who has been selected as a Global Xchange volunteer. She is the first KI volunteer and first Maranao woman to qualify for the GX program.

Fatima finished her placement as one of our 6^th batch of volunteers in August 2011. She is spending 3 months in Bohol, Philippines and then 3 months in Bradford, UK with a group of British and Filipino youth working on community projects. You can find out more about Global Xchange and the progress of Fatima at

http://www.globalxchange.org.uk/Pages/YX-Teams-Bohol-Bradford.aspx

Dear Friends and Supporters,

KI 6^th Batch of 12 volunteers will soon be finishing their year of volunteering. Many of them will continue to use their newly gained skills and knowledge as they will be absorbed by their placement organizations. We are currently seeking support for our next batch of volunteers, so please keep spreading the word about our work.

An example of how your donations are working to empower our young volunteers

KI Volunteer, Ms. Rohanifah Atar is placed as a legal assistant at Mindanao Peoples Caucus (MPC), a grassroots network of Indigenous Peoples, Muslim and Christian communities and leaders who have common vision for peace in Mindanao.

Rohanifah recently led the information gathering and research for a series of dialogues involving the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Peace Panel in different areas in Mindanao. The program aims to increase awareness of different ethno-religious groups and communities comprising the Lumads (Indigenous people), Christians, and Muslims and different sectors, such as Local Government and Civil Society Organizations, on the current issues of the peace talks between the MILF and the Philippines Government.

Rohanifah organized series of dialogues, media orientations, and meetings for MPC as part of the program activities. During each of these events Rohanifah also acted as a support staff, member of the secretariat, documentor, and finance assistant.

According to Rohanifah, volunteering at MPC helped her understand more and be immersed on the realities of the conflict situation and the centuries-long Bangsamoro struggle in Mindanao. She also noted that her volunteering experience has contributed a lot to her growth as a young Muslim woman leader.

One wet Saturday last March, Resque Abra, was one of a group of fifteen young people made up of KI 6th Batch volunteers and some members of an Interfaith volunteering group LYPAD-Min who journeyed to Barangay Putadon, a small remote community of the municipality of Nunungan, Lanao del Norte, to conduct their outreach program targeting less fortunate children. The program aimed to reach out to more than 300 deprived children with a feeding program and to teach them and their parents about personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. Barangay Putadon was chosen as it is a very remote place, journeys are by truck and are only three times a week.

Resque, a graduate in International Relations, began his placement with the Municipality of Nunungan in September 2010. In his role as a project assistant, he helps the local Government in developing Nunungan as a model municipality. This involves projects on Bio- Energy, Alternative Livelihood, Good Governance and Eco-Tourism. Resque liaised with the Mayor and his co-volunteers, making most of the arrangements for this activity; the events program, transportation, accommodation and food.

The travel to Putadon was very challenging. After a three and a half hour journey to the municipality of Lala, it took another three hours via a one-way rocky and bumpy mountain road in a 6x6 army truck. On the way, the truck got a flat tire and the heavy rain made the road nearly impassable. Finally they reached there after 6 and a half hours. The group then stayed overnight in Putadon, in order to prepare for the activity the next day.

The community was so accommodating and they voluntarily helped in preparing the whole event. The first activities with the children were lots of group games including a spelling contest. Then there was singing and dancing in connection to theme of hygiene awareness e.g. “sampong mga karapatan” which is a song that talks about the ten rights of a child. The highlight of the program was the distribution of personal hygiene kits for over 300 children. This brought big smiles to the children and their parents since it was their first time to experience such an activity due to the difficulty in access to the community. Resque commented “Its only the KI volunteers who dare to take hold of the challenge to reach the place. The children were really blissful and feel some specialty that day because of making them feed, play and imparted knowledge they can use on their daily lives”.

Everybody also enjoyed the feeding activity (a salo-salo, ‘eating together’) which was held in a ‘boodle fight’ style lunch (a military style of eating where foods are on top of the banana leaves lined on a long mat) . The Mayor, Hon. Atty. Abdul Malik Manamparan remarked “thank you KI volunteers for reaching my place, to conduct your program here, you are all very much welcome, it will be a big help to a lot of children here in Nunungan. We are happy to see youths like you who are concerned about the children”

After the program, Resque reflected “through my volunteering, I have learned that the achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual. You can help a child to learn, smile and be fed”.

The activity was held with the support of Kapamagogopa Incorporated and Australian Government through Australian Embassy, and in coordination with LGU-Nunungan and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology: Department of Extension

Fahad Ali first encountered KI at the 2009 Interfaith Youth Summer Peace Camp. He then became an active member of the Board of Lanao Youth for Peace and Development in Mindanao (LYPAD-Min), a youth organization promoting interfaith dialogue across the two Lanao provinces formed as a result of the Peace Camp.

In 2010, Fahad successfully applied to be one of the 6th Batch of KI volunteer and was placed in Kalimudan Foundation Inc (KFI). He volunteered with KI because he was eager to experience community works, explore new things and make new friends since according to him, his way of living in Marawi City was isolated.

He was assigned as a Program Support Staff of KFI. In the first few months of his placement, he has been an event’s organizer, a facilitator, a documentor and hygiene promoter. He has also been able to utilize his Agricultural Engineering degree since one of his roles is to assist in KFI’s agricultural programs e.g. designing green houses for their sustainable resource management project, Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) training for the communities, micro finance project, and tree planting.

Fahad remarked that he felt fulfillment for being involved in the activities of the organization because he was able to share his knowledge and skills to the community especially to other youth. He’s also very happy that he was able to help the people in the community to become aware and concerned on their environment and children learned to do proper hygiene. Through volunteering, he was also able to broaden his horizon and learned not to judge people by their position and practices in life instead, we have to understand their culture and history.

He is very motivated to do volunteering works especially for peace and development because according to him “as a young Muslim, there is a need for me to volunteer, be the voice, and be a good example to Muslim youth. We have to be concerned and vigilant of what is happening on our society. Let us be part of the solution and not a problem in our society."

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