ILIGAN CITY, Aug. 5 — Hundreds of youth displaced by the ongoing conflict in nearby Marawi City underwent series of psycho-social and peace building sessions to help them cope up with the strain inside the evacuation camps and mentally recover from the effects of the armed conflict.
Dubbed as “Kwentuhan Kabataan,” the young adults were given the necessary interventions through fun-filled games and story-telling activities.
The activities are part of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process’ (Opapp) early recovery program for the displaced individuals brought about by the armed conflict in Marawi City.
The healing activity is in line with the directive of Opapp Sec. Jesus Dureza to “build relationships, bring back social cohesion, and mending the torn social fabric brought about by the armed conflict.”
The agency also partnered with the local government of Marawi and volunteers from the Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT).
Among those who participated in the trauma recovery is 22-year-old Ruben Salman Ampang, who has been suffering from sleeping disorder since the conflict started more than two months ago.
“Nights in the evacuation site are longer. It could be the condition since you’re not at the comfort of your own home. But most cases, my sleep is being interrupted by the mental sounds of bombings and gunfights,” Ampang said in Filipino.
Ampang was in his usual daily routine driving his motorcycle and transporting passengers in the busy alleys of Marawi’s central business district when members of the IS-aligned Maute seized several structures in their attempt to declare a caliphate in the country.
“We stayed for about three days until we were advised by the military to vacate our homes. In those days, it was hellish. The sounds of bombs and gun fires hurt my ears,” he recounted.
In dull moments, Ampang will sometimes find himself reminiscing his nightly jamming with friends.
“We usually hang out at Mapandi bridge. I play my guitar while my friends sing. We cook our meal and eat together. With the crisis, I seldom see them now. Some of them are in Manila already, while some are staying in different evacuation camps,” he said.
At the healing sessions, Ampang could not help but to rejoice at the reunion of some of his friends during the second day of the week-long activity, which started on Monday, July 31.
This week’s program was designed specifically for the youth, following the success of its earlier engagement with the women, including mothers, in several evacuation sites in this city.
Another displaced youth, who only identified herself as Johanisa, said they had been living in the evacuation camps for more than two months and it’s only during the intervention session that she gets to know more about the other youths.
“I now considered them as one of my closest friends,” she said during a reflection session.
Her admission triggered an applause by her fellow participants.
“This kind of intervention help us not only to forget temporarily our plight but most important it thrives our determination to move forward,” Johanisa declared.
Rakila Mamosaca, a volunteer from MSU, who helped facilitate the sessions, noted the eagerness and energies of the participants on how to improve their situation in the evacuation camps.
“You can see their will-power to help themselves,” she said, noting that part of the session is to encourage participants to point out what measures they can do to alleviate their living conditions in the evacuation sites.
Among the suggested ideas are job creation, sports, physical fitness, and strengthening interfaith dialogue among the evacuees and residents in this city.
Johair Comadug, a representative of the local government unit of Marawi, said they are working to ensure that the needed assistance for the youth is being looked at.
“This program is vital for us to determine what interventions that the local government of Marawi will implement for the youth,” he said.
Each session ends with the creation of a core group who the participants named to carry out future programs for them in evacuation camps.
Dir. Ferdinand Jovita, who oversee OPAPP’s Conflict Prevention and Management Unit, said there is a need to actively engage the youth sector, which comprises the bulk of the evacuees.
He said it is important to let the youth recover from the trauma of the armed conflict and let them understand their critical role in the overall peace building.
“What we’re working on is to empower the youth and to sustain this program for them,” he said.
Aside from the women and youth, OPAPP will also conduct similar program for the traditional leaders, and civil society groups in Marawi City. (Darwin Wally T. Wee/PNA)
