Story of Young Erumenen woman

I am Jocelyn A Pobre of North Cotabato I grew up knowing a little about peace and culture I was the idle-type, the kind of person who would mind my own world that it led me to speak less ---- especially when I am not asked to speak to begin with What sets me apart from others is that I do not really regard my origin, the reason I did not care about learning about culture

It was during the pandemic, the time when COVID-19 was at its peak when I finally decided to weigh things I was confined in the four corners of the house and forced to juggle between modular learning and online classes I came across a subject matter concerning about culture It did hit me That was also the time when I had to learn how to defend the culture that I have and the identity that I was born with Because of the learning I had, I was able to have important information about my ancestors It was only a month after my classes when I already had participation in a course-related seminar It was a worthwhile learning experience The leader saw something in me that she recommended me to become a part of the Alyansa ng Kabataan Mindanao para sa Kapayapaan (AKMK) for Mesen Met een Missie (MMM Project. AKMK was looking for someone who has from North Cotabato. I admit, I didn’t know anything about the organization but since I believe being chosen to be part of an NGO means opportunity to me, I affirmed and said yes to the offer. I just finished college and I was thinking I could do something worthwhile after a four-year juggle with school.

We had our first meeting in Cotabato City and it was an instant amazement. I was thrilled to know all the things that AKMK does to communities. One thing that caught my attention was the organization’s programs for the Tri-People. I was so happy. But there was a little fear in me knowing I couldn’t find any member of Tri-People from my place. But with the help of our leader, we were able to overcome anything.

On our first activity, I felt elated with my participants. The first time I laid down the project on our orientation, I could see the excitement in their eyes The next moment, I saw the struggles as they shared their life experiences I re-affirmed myself that this activity will help hone the participants’ skills by being the mouthpiece of change and transformation Their grievances are finally heard

As excited as I was, I also took part in the activity We composed songs, wrote poems and made artworks It just feels sad that the two-day activity is not enough for them to enrich their learning But nonetheless, they were all happy

Probably the challenge for me was when I would make a report about finances I am afraid I would omit anything especially the report is about money and how I am supposed to squeeze the allocated budget Sometimes I ask help from my team mates just to make sure I was doing the job right

Because of this activity, I was noticed by a leader from the organization about how great I am when it comes to my relationship with the youth They also praised me as I improved my speaking skills AKMK helped me a lot The things that I never thought I’d do, I have successfully done with them I became more pro-active on matters concerning peace and culture Being a young adult, I also became an active youth leader in my community