On February 7, children of different faiths gathered in Tala Caloocan, Philippines to make flower and candle holders for a peace ritual to end the 40-year civil war in Mindanao province. Inspired by the traditions of the tri-peoples of Mindanao—Indigenous, Christian and Islamic—their terra cotta creations would become part of a mandala, or sacred circle, at an official ceremony in Quezon City to inaugurate the resumption of peace talks with Islamist rebels after a six-year hiatus. Organizers, including the Peacemakers’ Circle CC and the Muslim-Christian Peacemakers' Association of Tala CC, had expected 100 children; instead 400 came to help. When they were finished making their artworks, they designed and practiced a play to teach other children about peace.
The next day, the children lit the candles before an audience of more than 2000 people, including Philippine President Benigno Aquino II and other government, military and civil society leaders, as the peace ceremony came to a close. “It was the call of the children to end armed conflict in their generation,” said a report by 1Mandala, one of the project organizers. “It was a celebration of the end of the cycle of war, misunderstanding, and separation. It was a reminder of our interconnection across lines and generations."
