In the Light of the Crescent Moon - A Peacemaker's story which remains relevant today

[Marites Guingona Africa]

Dear Friends,

Greetings of peace!

I am pleased to announce the successful launching of our Campus Tour last July 11 (Wednesday). We were graciously hosted by the Far Eastern University (FEU) in Morayta, and we are very grateful to Marco Gutang and his team of indefatigable and dedicated teachers (in the FEU peace program) for the heartwarming reception! 

Archbishop Antonio Ledesma, S.J., Vice-Chair of the Episcopal Commission on Interreligious Dialogue (ECID) of the CBCP was with The Peacemakers' Circle team, and we were pleased to have him present his powerpoint-aided lecture on INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE IN A SPIRIT-FILLED WORLD before a lively crowd of over 300 students who were gearing up for their grassroots community outreach work. This was followed by the film showing of IN THE LIGHT OF THE CRESCENT MOON, a 25-minute video documentary on the plight of Muslims in Metro Manila which was produced by The Peacemakers' Circle in 2006. It was interesting to note that despite the fact that it has been six years since its first public launching, its message remains urgent today. 

With us in the team were Sr. Arnold Maria Noel, Shakun Vaswani and Orlan de Guzman. Sr. Arnold gave a brief backgrounder on the Jabidah Massacre (which triggered the Muslim-Christian conflict), Shakun gave an inspirational message encouraging the students to reach out beyond their comfort zones to dialogue with people of other cultures and beliefs, and Orlan (with the help of Marco) engaged the students in a lively exchange.  

FEU is actively involved in community peacebuilding, and it was very inspiring to be very well received by their students who wrote down their questions about interfaith dialogue in the grassroots communities, and about Islam and Christianity. Because there were too many questions that we could not respond to given the limited time, we invited them to visit us on facebook where we will be posting their questions and attempt to respond to them in time!  

Ramadan is up and coming (on July 21st) and, in the spirit of friendship, solidarity, and peace, I share here with you this link to In the Light of the Crescent Moon. We had to cut this 25-minute video documentary into two parts for uploading on YouTube; I hope you will find time to view both Part I and II to appreciate the whole story. 

http://youtu.be/77sZ1etCVyU

http://youtu.be/vCEB8xxaG2I

Thank you for your patience and support! I look forward to our TAYO-TAYO MUNA meeting tomorrow (July 20) at the Communications Foundation Asia (CFA) from 2-5 in the afternoon. It will be very inspiring and encouraging to see you there!

Cheers!

Marites

P.S. Thank you, Father Bert Alejo, S.J, for making time to meet with me in LST yesterday. I will share with the rest of us some highlights of our conversations on how to move our INTRA-FAITH DIALOGUE initiatives forward! 

--

MARITES GUINGONA-AFRICA

Founder & Executive Director

THE PEACEMAKERS’ CIRCLE FOUNDATION, INC.

Rm. 105 PhilDHRRA Partnership Center

59 C. Salvador St., Varsity Hills, 1108

Quezon City, Metro Manila

Philippines

Cell phone no.: +63 917-538-9358

Tel. no.: (63) (2) 925-2815; (63) (2) 788-6402

Fax no:  (63) (2) 426-6737 local 102

E-mail: thepeacemak...@gmail.com

            shek...@gmail.com        

Webpage: www.thepeacemakerscircle.org                 

[asela arago]

Dear Marites,

 

Many thanks for your wonderful update. 

 

Be assured that we are united with you in all these activities.

 

All the best,

 

ted & asel

[Marites Guingona Africa]

Dear Ted and Asel,

Thank you for your encouraging words of support! Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow!

Love,

Marites