Reported by
REGINA MONDEZ, Development Communication Specialist, PeaceBuilders Community
On December 2009, Peacebuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) started a project on Disaster Risk Management. After a year, we have already trained one PAR community, consisting of 30 members, in the Province of Nueva Ecija.
They were trained for one year in Peace and Reconciliation Seminars 1-3, and Disaster Risk Management. (See stories on: PAR 1 Seminar, PAR 2 Seminar, PAR 3 Seminar, CBDRM training, Community risk Assessment, TOT and Graduation, Officers’ meeting, Consultation)
On February 21, 2011, all the members of PAR NE were very excited for their reunion. They all shared stories and updated each other upon their arrival. It was the first time they met PBCI Director of Field Operations – Kriz Cruzado, who facilitated their impact assessment and Focused Group Discussion.
They were all active and participative, given the lively approach of the facilitator. They also felt happy with the presence of Bruce and Helen Glick from the Mennonite Central Committee.
They gave positive comments and feedbacks about the training on Disaster Risk Management, although some of them were not able to attend the PAR trainings. Because of this, they requested to conduct PAR 1-3 seminar again, so they could also invite more people from the 4th District of Nueva Ecija.
During their timeline making, some of them had a hard time recalling what happened during a certain month, and yet they were very eager to share and help each other recall what they have done. They told stories with much excitement as they recall their experiences. In fact, one of the most exciting experience that the pastors recalled was the Armed-Conflict Area Survival Training (ACAST) that they held on May 2010. They were very happy recalling how they crawled and rolled and carried each other.
Overall, they gave a positive feedback about the training and would want to share this to more people in their province.
