Category: Past Events Published Date
Date: 16 Mar 2008
Title: WAR & PEACE IN THE PHILIPPINES
Speakers: Elias Macarandas, Billy de la Rosa, Mariam Banadia, Christina Lomoljo, Zainab Waliullah
Event Details
With the Name of God, All-Merciful, Most Merciful
The City Circle, in association with Voluntary Services Overseas and the St. Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace, invites you to "WAR & PEACE IN THE PHILIPPINES."
Mindanao is the Philippines' second largest island and has a large Muslim minority (20%), known as Moros, whilst the country as a whole is majority Christian. For decades, Moro Liberation Fronts have been struggling for independence for Mindanao, complaining of mistreatment by the central government. After 9/11, the US government declared that some of the separatist "rebels" had al-Qaeda connections and increased its financial and military help for the Philippines' government against the Moro "rebels" as part of its "War on Terror," in which Mindanao has become a frontier. US and Philippine marines now operate together against Moro fighters.
Join us to learn from a group of peace-workers from the Philippines - Muslims and Christians - about how they aim and strive to bring peace and justice to Mindanao.
ELIAS MACARANDAS is an Islamic scholar educated in Egypt and is the president of the local NGO, The Philippines Muslim Welfare Society. The PMWS has both male and female scholars of Islam and volunteers who spread the message of Islam and Peace in many diverse communities by organising seminars and youth camps. Sheikh Macarandas currently holds a Chevening scholarship and is studying conflict-resolution at York University.
BILLY DE LA ROSA is the programme area manager for the VSO PEACE programme.
MARIAM BANADIA is the executive director of a Muslim volunteering organisation called Kapamagogopa, which means "sharing" in the local language. She became a widow at a young age with five children and now works to provide young Muslims in Mindanao with an opportunity to volunteer and enhance their skills, an opportunity that is not often available to them in the mainstream society. Specifically, she places Muslim volunteers in Christian organisations, thus allowing both sides to learn, understand and share the commonalities of their religions and cultures.
CHRISTINA LOMOLJO is the director for Balay Integrated Rehabilitation Center for Total Human Development (BIRTH-DEV), which focuses on women and children's rehabilitation and emotional recovery from wars and natural disasters.
ZAINAB WALIULLAH is a UK-based representative for the VSO's Peace programme in the Philippines. She is a British Muslim who decided to volunteer with the VSO in 2006 and was sent to Mindanao, where her first role was to teach English to Moros, especially the mosque ulama. Zainab then used her skills to influence the social development of the Muslim community in Mindanao. Her workshops on staff training, organisational development, document writing, technical writing and management have helped enable the Muslim community to integrate with society in general, by the grace of God.
VSO (VOLUNTARY SERVICES OVERSEAS) is an international development charity that works through volunteers. It was set up in 1958, and over the past 50 years, 30,000 volunteers have served in over 70 countries.
ST. ETHELBURGA'S CENTRE FOR RECONCILIATION & PEACE occupies the spot in Central London where a medieval church stood from the 13th century until it was almost totally destroyed by an IRA bomb targeting nearby financial institutions in 1993. One of St. Ethelburga's previous ministers was the Rev. Rodwell of the 19th century, who authored perhaps the earliest unbiased translation of the Koran into English. The Centre is now a unique meeting space in the heart of the City of London devoted to promoting understanding of the relationship between faith and conflict, offering talks, workshops and training about reconciliation and peace-making. Religious difference is explored together in The Tent, a unique authentically-Bedouin structure made in Saudi Arabia from real goat's hair. Religious and cultural diversity is also celebrated through music and poetry.
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