(FEBRUARY 28, 2023/ PAGALUNGAN, MAGUINDANAO-BARMM). “While there was armed conflict, I as a mother was also in battle to secure my kids from famine and war”, Babu Ina ni Gunda said as she recalls life during war years ago.

Babu (Maguindanaon term for elderly woman) Ina (mother) ni (of) Gunda with the complete name Mondingan Kagui Kabasalan is a 71-year-old widow from Brgy. Kilangan, Pagalungan, Maguindanao- a community within Camp Rajamuda (one of the MILF’s six major camps as identified in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro- CAB).

During the war in the past years, before this present peace in the land, Babu Ina ni Gunda has had three children. Her husband is among the ‘mujahiddeen/ warriors’ who were fighting those days. Hence, she had to take the lead for the survival of the children.

She recalls that “instead of taking care of the laundry, education and leisure time of my children, I was in a battle to secure my kids’ from famine and war.”

She said that in order to get food from their cornfield, they sneaked at night time travelling kilometers after kilometers of cold, dark and fearful land. They have to cross bodies of water to secretly harvest corns from the field and carried them back at the evacuation center where her children are waiting for her to bring foods.

“It was really hard for us mothers being an evacuee especially when you have children”, Babu Ina ni Gunda stated.

She said that they have been into the same situation due to protracted conflict in the past, since 1972, until peace and development has started reigning in the Bangsamoro.

Now, Babu Ina ni Gunda is 71 years old, with ten (10) children and twenty (20) grandchildren.

She is happily taking care of her backyard garden in their village in Camp Rajamuda.

“I really love gardening, that is why if you don’t mine, I will show to you my small garden so that maybe you give some vegetable seed” she uttered with a genuine smile on her face.

Babu Ina ni Gunda’s grandson is among the members of the Sustainable Farmers Agriculture Association in their village. She is always eager to listen and attend to community meetings and especially this day when she learned that the topic during that day was about livelihood.

“So then, I joined the association”, she happily said.

The association was selected as one of the recipients of the PROACTIVE: Programme on Assistance for Camp Transformation through Inclusion, Violence Prevention and Economic Empowerment.

PROACTIVE is a collaborative programme of the United Nation Development Programme (UNDP – Philippines) and the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA Inc.) under the European Union Framework for Assistance to Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Mindanao Peace and Development Programme - Peace and Development in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MINPAD-PD BARMM).

Through the program, the association of Babu Ina ni Gunda along with other organizations across the six major camps of the MILF will get assistance to prosper, which will be relevant to help them become productive.