Lawig Kalinaw - Balay Mindanaw

Silent, obscure and away from the limelight,away from the eyes of the media, these ordinaryfolks have been waging peace in their respectivebarangays. After their OP Kors! training, andthrough their recall sessions, come stories of theirjourney of peace.There are stories on effectively handlingconflicts at home. In dealing with children, forinstance, they used to go into outbursts when theirkids commit mistakes. Now, with a consciouseffort to practice what they have learned in selftransformation sessions, they listen to their childrenfirst and engage them in a family dialogue insteadof raising their voice and inflicting physical harm onthe young offender.Husbands and wives, on the other hand, havelearned to communicate better, now able to expressthe feelings boiling inside them before a volcanolikeeruption could take place and wreak irreparabledamage. Conflicts are still present in their homes,they say, but the difference is, they could nowmanage the disputes better.Peace, they say, starts with the self and directlyradiates to the other members of the home.While building peace at home is a challenge,OP Kors! graduates say that it is even morechallenging in the communities. Being activein their barangays as volunteers, workers andeven as officials, they are dealing with far morediverse personalities and a much greater numberof people. Barangay leaders are constantly placedin a situation where they have to help mediatelocal conflicts. They say it helped a lot to providean atmosphere of peace at the very start of themediating process. Their analyses of conflicts aremore thorough and deeper.The peace builders, being local leadersthemselves, played a big role in institutionalizingpeacebuilding efforts, thereby integrating them intothe peace and development plans.“OP Kors!” is coined from the Englishexpression “Of course!” which could mean “Yes!”Mga Sugilanon sa Pagpanday og Kalinaw sa Katilingban5