Last 20-26 September 2022, Doug Klassen (Executive Director, Mennonite Church Canada), Jeanette Hanson (Director, Mennonite Church Canada Witness), and Norm Dyck (Mission Minister, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada) accompanied the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDevTeam) in our regularly scheduled field work. Our field trip included a meeting with a Philippine Army officer, with the Council of Elders of the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mount Apo (MADADMA), with the Obo Manobo coffee farmers in Kidapawan, with the founders of TriPeople Development & Services Foundation, and with the Council of Elders of the Unified Bagobo Tagabawa Tribe. They also met with our Manila-based BOT members.
Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/09/27/mennonite-church-canada-leaders-visit-pbci-cfp-field-partners/
OBO MANOBO FARMERS PRESENT SAMPLE PRODUCT AT THE ‘PHILIPPINE COFFEE EXPO 2022’
The Obo Manobo Coffee Farmers sent their representatives at the Philippine Coffee Expo 2022 (PCE2022) to present their initial product. Datu Romeo Andot, Bai Gemma Andot, and Alvin Baroro were sent by the Manobo Apao Descendants Ancestral Domain of Mount Apo (MADADMA). They were accompanied by Rich Paul Calceta and Don Tormis of the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of Energy Development Corporation (CSR-EDC). Sihaya Ansibod, PBCI Field Operations Director assisted them. The Obo Manobo Coffee presented in this event was the product of a long-term program to develop key farmers who would be the local champions we refer to as ‘farmer entrepreneurs’ or farmerpreneurs. This is part of an on-going inclusive development initiative of MADADMA. We, at PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team, has been tasked to facilitate social preparation, community organization, and training in basic entrepreneurial skills.
Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/09/16/obo-manobo-farmers-present-sample-product-at-the-philippine-coffee-expo-2022/
PEACE NETWORK ENGAGES GOVERNMENT MILITARY IN A PEACE DIALOGUE
We learned that the new Division Commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the highest military officer in the whole Greater Davao Region, is willing to have a dialogue with peacebuilding civil society organizational leaders. We, at PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) and Coffee for Peace (CFP) immediately prayed for, and planned, a course of action to pay him a courtesy call. We also invited our civil society partners – Mindanao PeaceWeavers, Initiatives for International Dialogue, All-Out Peace Network, and Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict – to join us. Last 29 August 2022, MajGen Nolasco A. Mempin, along with his staff and ground commanders under him, received our group into the headquarters of the 10th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.
Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/08/31/peace-network-engages-government-military-in-a-peace-dialogue/
TALAANDIG COMMUNITY FINISHES FIRST WORKSHOP ON SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
26 – 27 Aug 2022. The Talaandig Indigenous People’s community in Sungko, Lantapan, Bukidnon, finished the first of two social entrepreneurship workshops which was jointly facilitated by Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), led by Dr. Jinky Bornales, and the Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team). With the cultural guidance and leadership of Datu Migketay “Vic” Saway, the seminar-workshop focused on generating Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Practices (IKSP) that can be used in their social enterprise ventures. The participants also identified the products that they want to develop as social enterprises.
Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/08/28/talaandig-community-finishes-first-workshop-on-social-entrepreneurship/
POPE FRANCIS’ CANADIAN VISIT: AN ANABAPTIST PEACEBUILDING WORKER’S PERSPECTIVE
Last 24-30 July 2022, Pope Francis visited Canada for an “Apostolic Journey.” Many expected that he would apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in the abuse of Indigenous children in the residential schools in Canada. Instead, he said, “I humbly beg forgiveness for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples.” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Pope’s two apologies, the one in Edmonton and the first one in Rome in April, “have failed to acknowledge the church’s institutional role in the residential school system.” Here’s how I see the pope’s Canadian visit as an Anabaptist peacebuilding worker.
Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/07/30/pope-francis-canadian-visit-an-anabaptist-peacebuilding-workers-perspective/
I’M SO BLESSED TO BE AT THE 2022 MWC GLOBAL ASSEMBLY IN INDONESIA
Indonesia 2022 gathering was my sixth year and my last event serving as chair of the Peace Commission of the Mennonite World Conference (MWC). I feel the joy of watching our team working together to see MWC embrace the Statement on Solidarity with the Indigenous People. For me, this is the most exciting part of the last 6 years serving with the Peace Commission. I have been blessed working with the women and men whom I learned to respect and love. I pray that MWC would continue to serve the Body of Christ; to serve the nations towards justice and peace; and, to serve as a healing body in the process of decolonization and reconciliation in this world.
Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/07/15/im-so-blessed-to-be-at-the-2022-mwc-global-assembly-in-indonesia/
OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE OBO MANOBO FARMERS AND WITH THE CSR-EDC CONTINUES TO GROW
28-30 June 2022. The Inclusive Development Team of PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. and Coffee for Peace (PBCI-CFP IncluDev Team) conducted a series of small group consultations and workshop-seminars with our partners from the Ovu Menovu Indigenous People’s community and from the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Energy Development Corporation (CSR-EDC). These field activities are a part of a five-year Social Entrepreneurial Training Program among pre-qualified Ovu Menovu farmers.
Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2022/06/30/our-partnership-with-the-ovu-menovu-farmers-and-with-the-csr-edc-continues-to-grow/