Houses of Hope

MANILA, Philippines — With not just hope, but also love and faith, in pursuit of peace and harmony, Muslims and Christians are joining hands to help those displaced by the siege of Marawi.

Assisted by Christian churches across the country, a community in Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte is now returning the gesture of welcome and refuge that a community in Marawi City extended to them nearly two decades ago, when they were similarly displaced by conflict and violence.

In 2000, during the government’s all-out war against Muslim rebels, the residents of Barangay Delabayan saw their houses burned to the ground, as they were suspected of being a rebel stronghold. The residents fled to Marawi City, where they were given shelter.

In 2017, during the five-month siege of Marawi, as government troops battled Islamic State (IS)-inspired terrorists, residents of the country’s only Islamic City saw their houses razed by bombings and intense ground fighting, their businesses looted by terrorists. Fearing for their lives, they left all that they had – not just material possessions but also important documents and family memorabilia – and fled, with hundreds of families finding their way up north to Kauswagan. There they were offered refuge, and today, they are part of an interfaith effort to build a community committed to peace.

As the fighting in Marawi broke out in May 2017, several evangelical Christian churches across the country got together and started HOPE MARAWI, a rehabilitation effort that first focused on providing emergency relief goods and services to fleeing residents. As the fighting dragged on, the need for temporary shelter gained urgency, as it became clear these residents would not be able to return to their homes – or what was left of their homes – anytime soon, even though the fighting was declared over and Marawi City liberated in October.

To jumpstart the rehab effort, the Kagay-an Evangelical Disaster Response Network (KEDRN), a Cagayan de Oro-based organization, with support from various Evangelical Christian churches, initiated a Kanduri, a thanksgiving event held last Dec. 20 at Barangay Delabayan. The whole community – residents and guests – shared a meal (a carabao was slaughtered and prepared as what one guest described as “super delicious carabeef curry and carabeef steak”), 505 households received Hope Bags and food packs, while 760 children were given Hope Boxes containing slippers, toys, candies and personal hygiene kits.

Most significant during the event was the turnover of the first three Houses of Hope, to start off what is envisioned to be a New Hope Village of at least 100 houses, the first of its kind in Mindanao.

This endeavor is based on the PEACE Plan, which seeks to Promote reconciliation, Equip leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick and Educate the next generation.

The movement proposes that there must first be reconciliation with neighbors, with the environment, with God and with ones’ self. Without reconciliation the mission to build a community will not succeed. Values formation must be undertaken to replace distrust and hostility with reconciliation and harmony.

Local leaders will be tasked to head rebuilding efforts in the community, to become true servant leaders. Emphasis will be given to training the youth to become responsible and productive members of the community, and to eventually assume the mantle of leadership. This aspect is crucial in order to counter IS and extremist efforts to recruit new supporters.

Having lost all their possessions and means of livelihood, the evacuees are faced with the prospect of a life of poverty. Thus, HOPE IGP is looking to set up a community-based income generation program (IGP).One possibility being considered is a virgin coconut oil processing venture. Alongside constructing the Houses of Hope is the goal of establishing a guild of skilled artisans and builders who can practice their trade not just in Marawi or Lanao but elsewhere.

Sickness is prevalent in the community, so medical/dental/optical missions by various groups are being arranged. Further, healthy living in terms of diet and hygiene is being encouraged.

Finally, with the disruption of classes due to the fighting, special attention is given to how education can be re-established so that children and the youth can get back some measure of normalcy in their lives.

Sultan Camlon Moner Sr., one of the main partners in the rehab project at Barangay Delabayan, tells STARweek in an online interview that this rehab program “is not only a matter of building houses for the evacuees; it is a complete package based on acceptance and tolerance that can boost Muslim-Christian unity.”

The HOPE project is seen as a “strategic cooperation between Muslims and Christians toward real community development, toward better understanding and partnership between different cultures.”

The land on which the New Hope Village will rise was donated by barangay captain Cosain Mananggolo, a former scholar of Project Islam Foundation, a Christian organization. Moner shares that Mananggolo’s donation is in a way reciprocating his (Moner’s) donation of land for the people of Delabayan back in 2000 when they fled to Marawi.

In choosing beneficiaries of the Houses of Hope, Moner says first, they should “accept the Christians as brothers and sisters,” they will also be considering those who are most in need based on the number of family members.

“Foremost, all Hope housing beneficiaries should not only take advantage of the help being extended to them, but also understand the message of the program – that is, peace and harmony. That all beneficiaries should become responsible people and eventually agents of humanitarian endeavor,” he explains, adding with justifiable pride that “I have witnessed changes in their lives when I asked them to be part of the relief operation for Typhoon Vinta victims.”

There is, indeed, hope.