KOLAMBUGAN, Lanao del Norte -- The colorful picture sketched with crayons on a short bond paper seems to depict a perfect morning, but up close, the scene is spoiled by images of Moro rebels, a school building aflame, a burnt police car and a bright sun shedding tears.

The elements had lingered in the mind of Zych Javs Alfanta, a pupil of the Kolambugan Central Elementary School (KCES) in Kolambugan, Lanao del Norte, since some 300 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) members attacked his town and stayed for eight hours on Aug. 18, 2008.

Fourteen people were killed, a police car was burned, and 16 houses were razed. A five-classroom building of the KCES was leveled.

The school compound had served as the rebels? command base. As they fled in batches to the hinterlands, they took some pupils as hostages and used them as human shields.

Remedios Balane, the school principal, said a number of the pupils still had to completely overcome the trauma, especially those who had witnessed the atrocities and had been nearest to danger.

For four days last month, some 150 KCES pupils from Grades 1 to 6 underwent a series of activities designed to help them cope with the psychological wounds inflicted by last year?s war episode. The daily sessions lasted for 40 minutes, or one class period.

Dubbed ?Reminiscing the Past, A Journey to Healing,? the program mainly employed art as a means of expression.

?Art is an effective medium for the children to pour out what they would like to express in connection with their individual experiences,? said Rasmila Cosain, a teacher at the Kalinaw-Kalilintad Peace School of the Department of Education (DepEd) in Lanao del Norte.

The pupils were asked to prepare two drawings ? one posted in the ?Gallery of the Past,? which depicts their experiences from the war, and the other in the ?Gallery of the Future,? which outlines their hopes.

Recollection

One striking image is an imposing mountain overlooking a narrow strip of flatland where the smoldering town center is found. It is discernible only from the sea, which suggests that the child could have been evacuating by boat across the Panguil Bay.

A number of drawings show severe tragedy and gore. Rick Ortiz, a Grade 6 pupil, sketched a girl and a boy held hostage, a dead boy and a baby killed by a rebel.

Immarie Jade Boca, a Grade 1 pupil, illustrated an ambush scene, which could be the one that killed Army Lieutenant Colonel Angel Benitez.

Several drawings show people praying in their homes as fighting raged outside. One had the line ?Prayer defeats all.?

Not a few were images of evacuation, the mad rush to safety. What stood out was a picture of people fleeing to a mosque with two helicopters hovering above.

Hopes

After the attack, it was fairly easy to expect what the children are hoping from then on ?peace and harmony. These are shown in so many drawings of children playing on a sunny day.

A Grade 4 pupil, Sylvia Lumansol, drew her family reunited.