My name is Norhamin Maguid Andik but my friends usually call me "BONG" I was born on October 15, 1992 at Pikit, Cotabato. My father was a community leader and most of his people salute him for his braveness and strong determination to fight for peace and education for young people and to send his children to school despite of poverty. I grow up in Nalapaan, Pikit, Cotabato.
Our community is a diverse community were muslim, christian and manobo's living together despite of differences. My friends were mixed since I lived in a diverse community but in the 1997 crisis arise in our community when conflict begun between Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) they were fighting for different reasons while children, mothers, fathers, animals, trees are suffering from this man made calamities and it run until 2000 were All out war was declared by our generous previous President of the Republic of the Philippines Joseph Estrada. He was so generous because he gave everything just to powdered mindanao because he thought that Mindanawans are all criminals, rebels, terrorist and so on with other terms he used to utter to us! Since war between to armed group exist here in Central Mindanao, people were forced to leave their almost colapsed house due to bombs from the Government forces, I stayed in evacuation center for many hours, many days and even year! I forgot how to play and I regret because I wasn't able to enjoy my toys at home and even playing with other children because most of us are traumatized. I am afraid of soldiers because I knew they are my enemy because they accused us as rebels! I have hatred to Christians because I believe they betrayed us because most of soldiers are Christians and I believe they want to kills muslims because they thought we are rebels/bad persons!
During my stay in evacuation center I meet different people and I heard different stories and I feel happy because we have the same anger, problem, sorrow! The pain inside is also the pain inside them! They are all afraid of lossing lives! That was the time I engaged to NGO when I started sharing my stories to a local NGO just to express everything in my heart and mind (anger, sadness, sorrow, pain) all of those was expressed through writing, drawing and even shouting just to released. I feel good when it was process from time to time when I feel afraid I just draw my dreams (cope up mechanism/motivations) and eventually, some NGO notice that I have strong personality that can influence others, they trained and bring me to other places and invite me to Manila to share my story and even in media such as ANC I had the chance to shared my story on TV! After those several interventions, seminars, workshops, camps, I realized that what has been given to me must be shared to others, and luckily, one organization invited us to attend seminars on how to become a good facilitator in the community and they enhanced our skills through series of seminars. After our training last 2007, we re echo our learning and applied our skills to the community as a volunteer workers! I facilitated trainings on SK Good Governance, Human Rights, Health and Environment.
Our participants are high school students of seven barangays of Pikit, North Cotabato. And sometime I became facilitator of psycho social intervention activities of a Local NGO where I will listen to a story of children about their anger and eventually teach them how to cope up to that emotion (process). As a volunteer I learn that the more you engaged yourself to the community the more you get information and strategy how to develop your self relationship to the people and how to organize community to make a fruitful one.
From 2007 to 2009, I worked with different people and I became more flexible and more brave to face problems and even influencing my classmates and friends to become a peace advocates by just sharing their stories in writing and perhaps I organized write ups that has been to Manila to share our stories and to claim that we are children from Mindanao we love peace and we love our differences!
After Community works we come up with the good plan since we are still young and strong one NGO supported us to make a radio program which is "Mypeace Boses ng Kabataan ang programang para sa Kabataan" since war was lessen (only to fews areas) we decided to sit down on radio to share our stories and come up with four core of our advocacy (Human Rights, Youth Participation, Justice, Cultural Diversity) we always campaign that youth must be always active in community works and exposed their selves to work for justice, fight for their rights and recognize differences to create peace and sustainable development. Way back 2003, I attended seminars on trauma healing with my co young people and children who were victim of conflict in North Cotabato. And sometime participate in focus group discussion just to have dialogue with different tribes! We tried to rebuild the collapsed and bombarded relationship of tri people and our community from series of dialogue and negotiations we end up all happy because we just realized that war gives us inspirations to more productive in terms of relationship we strengthen our relationship and even influence nearby community and declared as spaces for peace and children as soon of peace last November 29, 2004.
What makes my volunteer experience unique?
It is a volunteer by heart not by anyone pushes me to do so! It is the feeling to being happy when I share what is inside of me! It is a fulfillment being influenced by someone good and you spread it to others. (What has been shared has been share to other without hesitations and asking something in return) and the most happiest thing was the person you've been influenced is now sharing the good news to others and now spreading the spirit of volunteering their selves to work for the community.
I volunteer because I don't want that my children children will experience the hardness of being displaced from your own home! Were home defined a perfect place for love, play, happiness, security and peace.
respectfully,
NORHAMIN M ANDIK
July 1, 2013
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