ALICIA, Zamboanga Sibugay—Nuri-in Abdurasid was at home in Sitio Tantawa in Gulayon village here while her husband was busy taking care of their crops in a small farm nearby when she heard explosions.
Her husband told her to run to the beach as he rushed to fetch their two children from school.
Amid the explosions, the Abdurasid family sailed toward Barangay Naga-Naga, along with hundreds of their neighbors.
The explosions turned out to be from howitzers from the military against the group of Waning Abdusalam, a suspected kidnap leader.
“We almost capsized because we panicked and we wanted to get away as fast as possible,” Nuri-in told the Inquirer.
She said when the family sailed for Naga-Naga, her main concern was where to stay as the family didn’t know anyone there.
Warm welcome
But to her and her neighbors’ surprise, residents of Naga-Naga were too willing to offer them shelter in their houses.
“They saw the bombings and they saw how terrified we were,” she said.
Fatima Osama, a resident of Naga-Naga, said they instantly took pity on the evacuees.
She said they welcomed them to their homes although they, too, were unsure of what to do with them.
“We are also poor people and we have nothing to offer to them,” Fatima told the Inquirer.
She let some children share the floor with her own children because she knew “it was important to provide them roof.”
“But we told them to just make do with what we can offer,” Fatima said. Razma Haiyal, another resident of Naga-Naga, said village officials bought rice to help feed the evacuees.
Volunteer cooks
“Young women in our village then volunteered to cook rice porridge for the evacuees,” she said.
Razma said other villagers brought in vegetables, while some readily had their chickens cooked so that the evacuees would have something to eat along with lugaw.
“We have nothing to give really except for these,” another resident, who asked not to be identified, said.
The resident said they knew how hard it was for the evacuees to survive in an unfamiliar area and the act of welcoming them in their homes was more than enough assurance they were not alone.
New playmates
Kismar Ismula, 9, said he was saddened when they left their home in Dawa-Dawa village because he was not sure if he could see his friends.
“It worried me a lot,” he said.
But then, Kismar found that the children of Naga-Naga were very friendly that he instantly connected with them.
“We always play marbles,” he said.
While leaving home made him sad, Kismar said finding new friends helped eased his worries.
Gariza Jalisan, 10, said Naga-Naga children like her also took pity on the children from the other villages.
“What if the same thing happened to us and not to them?” she said.
Roqayya Pupal, 10, said it did not take long for them to befriend the children of the evacuees.
Roqayya said there are times they argued with the other children during play but then they would soon make amends.
“Maybe because we are all children,” she said.
War is ugly
Verhana Ibrahim said war is ugly and it punishes people.
“That’s why we hate war,” she said.
The other children even suggested that the military and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front should become friends.
Maybe, President Aquino needs to see the situation of the evacuees to make him realize that war is not good, the children said.
Roqayya was more specific.
She said that even when the operation was not in their village, her parents had suffered too.
Roqayya said soldiers have been preventing her parents from sailing out to sea to fish “that’s why they always have few catch.”
Missing school
Kismar said one thing they miss these days is their class.
He said he hoped that the situation returns to normal so he and the other children of Sitio Tantawa could return home.
“At least our problem would only be pencils and papers,” a child said in jest.
Another child shouted she needed a dictionary.
Yet for another child, her main concern was her worn-out slippers.
At this point, many of the children, who gathered to talk with the Inquirer, argued that buying slippers wouldn’t be easy for her.
“I think it costs P50,” one of them said.
“Let’s just buy books!” another child seated at the back shouted, eliciting laughter from his peers. Bobby Lagsa, Inquirer Mindanao