Category: SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION
Stories and ideas about being in harmony and at peace with the Creator.
Indonesia 2022 gathering was my sixth year and my last event serving as chair of the Peace Commission of the Mennonite World Conference (MWC). I feel the joy of watching our team working together to see MWC embrace the Statement on Solidarity with the Indigenous People. For me, this is the most exciting part of the last 6 years serving with the Peace Commission. I have been blessed working with the women and men whom I learned to respect and love. I pray that MWC would continue to serve the Body of Christ; to serve the nations towards justice and peace; and, to serve as a healing body in the process of decolonization and reconciliation in this world.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/07/2022-mwc-global-assembly-in-indonesia-a-personal-reflection/
28-30 June 2022. The Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team) conducted a series of small group consultations and workshop-seminars with our partners from the Ovu Menovu Indigenous People’s community and from the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Energy Development Corporation (CSR-EDC). These field activities are a part of a five-year Social Entrepreneurial Training Program among pre-qualified Ovu Menovu farmers.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/06/our-partnership-with-the-ovu-menovu-farmers-and-with-the-csr-edc-deepens-in-rootedness/
Last 07-09 June 2022, Lakan Sumulong participated in a regional dialogue of civil society organization (CSO) leaders on the Bangsamoro Peace Process. It was organized by the Mindanao Peoples’ Caucus, led by Atty. Mary Ann Arnado. The objectives were: (a) to enable Mindanao CSOs to reflect on the new political realities and challenges facing the extended transition period in the BARMM as national government transitions from the Duterte to Marcos presidency; and, (b) to prepare at the earliest possible time to effectively address emerging issues with the end in view of sustaining and protecting the gains of the peace process.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/06/pbci-participates-in-the-2022-regional-dialogue-on-the-bangsamoro-peace-process/
As a Filipino citizen, I have been lamenting because of the unfortunate result of the candidacy of Leni Robredo, Kiko Pangilinan, and their senatorial team. As I lament, I’m reflecting on the seeming triumph of untruth and injustice. In the next six years, we will go through another socio-political darkness akin to the Marcos Martial Law and the Duterte War on Drugs. But hope, faith, and love allow me to see our short-term loss and our long-term victory as advocates of justice, peace, and reconciliation. I’m disappointed with the popular votes, but I see opportunities for a protracted, nonviolent, radical transformation of our land and our people.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/05/moving-on-after-the-2022-philippine-elections-a-personal-lamentation-and-reflection/
Last 25-28 April, leaders of a Zambales-based Fresh Hope Agape Center (FHAC) Inc. visited PeaceBuilders Community Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee For Peace (CFP) in Davao. The purpose of their visit was to get actual coffee farm exposure, to get post-harvest processing experience, and to go through Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) seminar. FHAC provides education and livelihood support to marginalized communities in Zambales. Their work is especially focused on Aeta Indigenous People’s community in Zambales.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/04/friends-working-among-zambales-aetas-establish-partnership-with-pbci-cfp-team/
We look at our our national situation through the lens of shalom-based transformation — that is, harmony with the Creator (spiritual-ethical transformation), harmony with our being (psycho-social transformation), harmony with others (socio-political transformation), and harmony with the creation (economic-ecological transformation). This season, when we commemorate the suffering and death of the Prince of Shalom, we reflect on the condition of our people and our land. This season, when we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we also want to celebrate the glimpses of renewed life in our society.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/04/praying-for-our-national-situation-during-the-2022-holy-week/
EDSA is the term we use to signify the People’s Power Revolution that brought down the Marcos dictatorial regime in 22-25 February 1986. EDSA, or Efipanio Delos Santos Avenue, was the place where millions of people gathered together that led to the dismantling of the violent and murderous Marcos Martial Rule. This week, the government of the Philippines is officially celebrating the EDSA, but Duterte is not scheduled to attend any EDSA Revolution commemorative activity. Each year, I go on a retreat to personally celebrate and remember my fallen colleagues as part of my personal healing. Here is my journal this year.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/02/the-healing-power-of-remembering-what-edsa-means-to-me/
As part of their two-day monthly training on “Inclusive Development & Farmerpreneurship,” (a 6-month training program), key farmers and community leaders of Mandaya Indigenous People from Pantuyan, Caraga, Davao Oriental had coffee production exposure trip to A and J Mahayahay Farm and to the CFP post-harvest processing facilities at the Malipayon Peace Hub in Managa, Bansalan, Davao del Sur. I lead this activity in my capacity as Vice President for Community Partnership at Coffee for Peace(CFP). I’m being supported by Aldren Banal, Operations Manager at CFP, who happens to be my husband.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/02/mandaya-farmers-travelled-to-aj-farm-and-coffee-for-peace-as-part-of-their-six-month-training/
This is a new phase in our work as justice-based peacebuilders and inclusive development workers here in Mindanao. We are working with the University of the Philippines – Mindanao (UP Mindanao) and with the Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) to further develop our capacity to preserve, systematize, teach, and share what we have been learning in the area of peacebuilding, inclusive development, and social entrepreneurship – all framed in justice-based Peace and Reconciliation Principles.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/01/were-working-with-academic-institutions-to-develop-a-social-enterprise-incubator/
We are still focused on our vision. The vision is that, by 31 December 2030, each of our provinces will have a circle of leaders called Peace and Reconciliation (PAR) Communities. They would serve as radical, peaceful transformation volunteers in their respective families, spiritual communities, neighborhoods, barangays, cities, or municipalities. The PAR Communities would also get involved in sustainable and regenerative programs that are indigenous to their specific context.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2022/01/looking-back-to-2021-and-looking-forward-to-2022-through-the-lenses-of-our-vision/
The Mandaya Community is the lead organization who defines, determines, and the final assessor of this inclusive development initiative. We spend at least 50% of our seminar time doing active, documented listening. The primary value we have been hearing is about their indigenous spirituality. From this spiritual base and lens, we get a better understanding of their concepts of liberation and their ideas of their right to self-determination. Then collaborative development happens in their own contexts—Mandaya worldview, Mandaya values system, Mandaya behavior patterns, and Mandaya customary laws.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/12/among-mandaya-indigenous-communities-inclusive-development-starts-with-spirituality/
The Board of Directors of the Kapeyapaan Farmers Association in Bansalan, Davao del Sur met last Wednesday, 01 December 2021. They outlined their objectives for the coming year 2022. They are as follows: to streamline farm to market operation; to complete the collection of members’ contribution towards the association fund of PhP2,000 each; to complete the registration with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) as a regional farmers association; and, to get members’ Good Agricultural Practices Certification from the Department of Agriculture.
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Permanent link to this article: https://peacebuilderscommunity.org/2021/12/the-kapeyapaan-farmers-association-in-bansalan-meets-for-2022-plans/
