Under the canopy of towering trees, youngsters on Saturday morning sat in rapt attention as Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmi de Jesus read to them a heart-tugging children’s story about war in Mindanao, its horrors and its unhappy consequences.
It was quiet until 11-year-old Roland stood up to say he could identify with the narrative, his family having been displaced by military operations in Talainod, Davao, and himself having witnessed a friend being struck with an Armalite by a soldier.
“There are soldiers in our place and life is difficult. That story read by lola (grandmother), we’ve experienced that. In the place where we live, by the farm, many have died from bullets and hunger. I myself have experienced it. It’s difficult when there is war. There are times we don’t eat in a day,” he said.
Saturday’s story-telling on the grounds of the Bantayog ng mga Bayani in Quezon City was part of the “Peace Camp” organized by child rights advocacy groups for Roland and more than 20 other victims of human rights violations with the support of the European Union.
Aged 7 to 17, they come from different provinces, but there’s a common thread in their profiles: they are children of victims of extra-judicial killings and the disappeared, or victims of displacement as an offshoot of military operations and encampment in schools, and harassment.
The idea behind the Peace Camp is to provide psychosocial help for the children and empower them to cope with and rise above the trauma of their experiences.
“The basic idea is for them to express themselves, and to be listened to. At the same time, they’ll discover that they have capacities, and there are things they could do to uphold their rights. They’re not helpless. If you’re a victim, you tend to become helpless,” said Eilek Manano, deputy executive director of the Children’s Rehabilitation Center which organized the activity with Salinlahi (Alliance for Children’s Concern) and Gabriela.
So within the day, the youngsters also had their faces painted by artists in a manner that expresses their wishes and dreams, joined “group games” that foster solidarity, and engaged in mural painting.
A booth was set up for each activity.
And of course, before and after the Peace Camp, the youngsters were subjected to debriefing.
The Peace Camp, which also sought to highlight the rights of the children, came a week ahead before the country marks International Human Rights Day.
For Emma (not her real name), whose farmer-father was hacked to death on suspicion he was a communist rebel and brother who was shot to death allegedly by soldiers early this year somewhere in Mindanao, the Peace Camp was a refreshing diversion.
“It’s my first time to come to Manila. I’m happy here,” said the 12-year-old girl, who had her face painted with the word justice and the names of her slain father and brother. She said it helped that she met and came into contact with other youngsters with a similar experience.
Tomorrow she’ll be back in her town where her family lives near a military camp. “They should leave our place so there won’t be killings of civilians,” she said.
De Jesus, a member of the party-list group pushing for women and children’s rights, said the Peace Camp was a venue to call the government’s attention to the violence against children.
“Healing will take time. But it will be relatively easier to process their experience if they’re empowered. You don’t just cure the pain and trauma. You also equip them with empowering attitude,” she said.
“Part of their healing will be how to empower themselves.”