WE HONOR THE MAN OF PEACE WHO WELCOMED US IN MINDANAO

Datu Kharis M. Baraguir is my mentor in Bangsamoro history and culture. 14 May 2013. Datu’s Brew Coffee Shop, Cotabato City. Photo by PBCI-ICT.

Between December 2004 and June 2005, I lived among the Bangsamoros in the Municipality of Sultan Kudarat, Province of Maguindanao and shared life with this amazing people group. I was embraced by the people in Sultan Kudarat, specifically by the family of Datu Kharis Matalam Baraguir.  It was through their simple life and their daily prayers, seeking to submit their whole being to Allah, that I experienced the kind of Salaam (Peace) that many Bangsamoro are longing for.  It was in the person of Datu Kharis Baraguir that I found the Person of Peace in his peacebuilding journey in Mindanao.

Datu Kharis continues to serve as one of our senior consultants at PeaceBuilders Community.

 

 

THE HON. DATU KHARIS M. BARAGUIR, SR.
Senior Consultant
Bangsamoro Historical Narrative and Culture

datukharis@peacebuilderscommunity.org

Datu Kharis was the first elected Vice Governor of the Province of Maguindanao.  He is a devout Muslim and a respected elder coming from the Maguindanao’s traditional leadership family.  He is a man of peace whom we look up to as our adopted father.  All staff and volunteers of PeaceBuilders Community, local and global, are required to go through Datu Kharis’ orientation on Mindanao Peace Process from the Bangsamoro perspective.

Asked what motivates him to work with a Christian peace building community like us:  Islam is a religion of peace (salaam). It is consistent with Islamic teaching to be friends and co-workers of the People of the Book who truly practice the ethical principles of their faith.  I am a Muslim member of PeaceBuilders Community.

 

 

 

 

Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2017/01/19/we-honor-the-man-of-peace-who-welcomed-us-in-mindanao/

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