Displaced Marawi kids long to see their friends again

STORY TIME Bangsamoro parliament member Marjanie Mimbantas reads the book “Water Lilies for Marawi” to at least 20 students of Mapandi Elementary School during a read-along session on Jan. 24. —AL-JAZEED LAGUINDAB/MBHTE-BARMM

ILIGAN CITY—Almost three years after the Marawi siege, displaced schoolchildren are slowly moving on but are still looking for friends they have not seen since they fled what used to be the country’s bustling Islamic city.

In a read-along session on Jan. 24, at least 20 Grade 4 pupils of Mapandi Elementary School in Barangay Lilod Saduc in Marawi found themselves thinking of friends they had lost, wondering whether they would still see them again just like the characters in the story “Water Lilies for Marawi.”

Written by Heidi Emily Eusebio-Abad, the story followed three childhood friends in Marawi who got separated during the five-month siege and how they eventually found each other again.

The story, which has a Maranao translation by Jalillah Gampong-Alonto, formed part of a book series of the Gift of Reading Project of Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) for the young survivors of the 2017 Marawi conflict.

Beyond the battlefield

It was read by Marjanie Mimbantas, a member of the interim Bangsamoro parliament and director of the Office on Bangsamoro Youth Affairs, during the read-along in Marawi in time for the first United Nations International Education Day.

The story showed how the suffering brought about by war could go beyond the battlefield.It started with three childhood friends Orak and Shameera and their Christian pal, Leslie, gathering loose stems and roots of water lilies at Lake Lanao for a class project on recycling materials.

The three children, all 10 years old, used to be neighbors in Barangay Calocan, but were separated by the ensuing war.

Leslie’s family fled to Cagayan de Oro City when the conflict broke out. But before parting, Leslie learned from Shameera about Orak, whose Islamic family also went in hiding because his uncle, a member of a terror group, wanted his brother to join him and to recruit Orak to his cause.

As the conflict heightened, Shameera’s family also found its way to an evacuation center in Iligan City, where she and her friend Leslie eventually met and reunited.

It was while they were in the midst of a psychosocial session, that Shameera discovered a pile of drawings made by other children and found a drawing she recognized to be done by Orak.

She eventually learned that he was found hiding among the lilies in the lake during the war and was rescued by government soldiers.

Teary-eyedAmong the Mapandi pupils, Farhanisa Domato, 12, listened to the story teary-eyed, remembering her Christian friend Anna, who fled to Cebu province at the height of the siege.

“Since then, we have not seen each other,” she said, recalling how they hurried home from school that day the authorities suspended classes after hearing about the gunfight in Basak Malutlut, 2 kilometers away. She has not seen her friend hence.

“How I wish our friendship [would end up] like that of Shameera and Leslie,” Farhanisa said.

Friendship

Another Grade 4 pupil, Joanah Aragasi, 11, said the story taught him the value of friendship, regardless of religion. He said he also missed his friend named Jasmin whom he did not see anymore.

“I heard her family fled to Davao. I’m not sure if her family is coming back to Marawi. I hope they will come back but I’m not sure if we will still be friends [when that happens],” said Joanah, who last saw his friend walking away with her family, bringing their bags two days after the fighting started.

Mimbantas encouraged the children to focus on their studies and not to let poverty hamper them.

“Like you, I also studied hard when I was a kid. I hope you will also strive so that you will become a teacher, doctor, lawyer or maybe become a politician,” said Mimbantas, who grew up in Masiu town, Lanao del Sur province.

Before the read-along session, PBSP turned over a two-classroom building to Mapandi Elementary School, which has three two-classroom buildings for its 459 pupils.

The project was supported by Education Pathways to Peace in Mindanao, a program carried out with the Bangsamoro Ministry of Basic, Higher and Technical Education, and supported by the Australian government.