Mindanao youth seek peace through creative arts

ALTHOUGH it is past 10 p.m. and the cool breeze is soothing local people to sleep, 54 Catholic and Muslim young artists are still exchanging ideas on how to foster peace through creative writing, film and photography.

“I want to write a story of friendship in Basilan, my home, so that people may know that we also yearn for peace,” says 15-year old Sitti Salih, who traveled by boat and bus for more than two days to attend the Moving Mindanao Camp, a youth gathering of Muslim, Christian and indigenous youth.

Eugene Paul Rubin, a Catholic youth advocate from General Santos City, explains that he can “help promote peace through the images and techniques in using a camera.”

Salih and Rubin say that it is their first time to take part in a youth camp where young instructors teach creative arts.

Organized by the Kids for Peace Foundation, the three-day creative workshop encouraged participants from Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Zamboanga Peninsula, and as far as Tawi-tawi and Sulu, to share their experiences of war and how these can be “translated peacefully through arts.

“When we discussed how to organize the youth camp, many suggested that we use creative arts instead of long inputs and discussions,” says Iya Agbon, the 22-year-old founder of the foundation.

Report from ucanews.com