Marawi Relief and Rehabilitation
Platform for Collective Engagement
Marawi Relief and Rehabilitation
During and after the Marawi Siege, PBSP provided various relief interventions to the affected communities with a total of eight missions, to date. Through the support of 96 corporate and 112 individual donors, PBSP was able to raise more than PhP 33,000,000 cash and inkind donations that benefitted more than 55,395 displaced individuals (or 11,079 families) from Marawi City and Saguiaran Municipality in Lanao del Sur, Balo-i and Pantar Municipalities in Lanao del Norte, and Iligan City.
The donations which PBSP calls gifts, were given to home-based evacuees (different families staying in a home of a host family), teachers and volunteers to encourage them to stay strong amid the hardships of the conflict. These were classified into gifts that support basic needs (food packs), gifts that help host families help home-based evacuees (non-food items), and gifts that uplift the spirit (lipsticks and toys). These gifts were distributed during four successful relief missions in June, July, September and October 2017.
The second phase of PBSP’s SOS Marawi campaign is now geared towards early recovery interventions that aim to help affected families heal from the wounds of the war and slowly rebuild their lives. Forming part of the initial batch of donations are 4,300 student kits and sewing machines which were given to 50 beneficiaries to help them regain their livelihood or start a business to sustain their families’ needs.
One of the major highlights of PBSP’s recovery initiative is the launching of the Marawi storybooks series under the “iRead4Peace” campaign in partnership with Bookmark, Inc. These are four children’s storybooks that highlight the culture, identity, values, and resilience of the Maranao people based on actual experiences of survivors of the Marawi conflict. Renowned authors translated these real-life accounts into stories – written in English and Maranao – while professional illustrators gave form, color, and texture to these stories. PBSP aims to provide all children in Marawi with a storybook to help them heal the wounds of war and adjust to their new lives. The Marawi Storybook Series will also be used by DepEd-Marawi for peace education and trauma healing.
As part of expressing PBSPs sincere appreciation to all its donors and partners that have contributed and have continuously provided support to the Marawi relief and rehabilitation efforts, a thanksgiving event called the “Kanduri-Kapanalamat” was conducted last November 12, 2018. During this event, PBSP reported on the “State of Donations” and officials of the Lanao del Sur Provincial Government and DepEd-Marawi shared their experiences on how the partnership made a difference in the lives of Maranaos who needed help in dealing with the crisis.
The road to recovery and rehabilitation of Marawi will be arduous and long, but PBSP will continue to journey on with our Maranao sisters and brothers.
