Books for Bullets and other paths to peace

MANILA, Philippines –  Looking back on his childhood as the child of a barangay captain in Zamboanga City, Armand Nocum recalls that his family had a room with guns in their house.

“Guns were our playthings then,” he says. “We had very few books.” Despite this, he developed an interest in books.

His wife Annora, who is a Tausug from Sulu, likewise had very little access to books growing up. She remembers buying a kilo of sugar from the market. Reading about Prince Charles and Lady Diana on the old newspaper used to wrap her purchase sparked her love for reading.

“In Manila, we are used to buying new books every school year and at every book fair, but in other places like Mindanao, there are no books at all,” says Armand.

Growing up in Mindanao, both Armand and Annora experienced living life against a constant backdrop of violence and crime. Though they are now based in Manila, they still frequently visit their hometowns where their families still reside. “Crime has become profitable and very popular for lack of economic opportunity,” says Armand of the rampant kidnapping and petty theft that does not make national news anymore because it has almost become normal in the area.

“It has become a ‘cottage industry’,” says Armand. “If you live by the gun, you don’t know any other way to live.”

A GIFT OF PEACE: Children of all creeds flock to the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library to learn together.

Though it seems like violence and crime are the easiest ways to get out of poverty for many, Armand says they would like to offer “education as the most effective way out of poverty and a peaceful means of getting ahead in life.”

Thus the Nocums created the A-Book-Saya Group, a phonetic play on the notorious terror group. From the name alone, the group boldly stands up to rebel groups known for violence by offering books and, more importantly, a happier life.

Military might, as well, is not the solution to Mindanao’s problems, the couple stresses. “For every rebel killed, five to seven more will rise up to fight in the memory of their relatives,” says Armand. “Ignorance plus availability of guns equals an endless cycle of violence. We want to change the equation.”

The Nocums started bringing books to Mindanao in 2001 together with some senators. In 2003, they came up with Kariton y Libro (cart and book), a nod to Armand’s childhood memories of pushing a kariton to school, selling wares from his family’s sari-sari store and coming home with his kariton filled with books.

“I remember loading encyclopedias in the kariton alongside the garapon, chicklet and cigarettes,” he shares.

Both experiencing a hunger for literature but not having access to books, Annora says that they want to share their blessings with the kids who are going through the same life they had. With enough determination and support, these children can succeed.

“I reinvented myself through reading,” says Armand. He hopes the children he helps will be able to do the same.

As a mixed religion couple, Armand, a Christian, and Annora, a Muslim, believe that this is one important driving factor behind their projects.

The library’s second floor has yet to be completed. The Nocums hope to raise enough funds soon to be able to finish its construction and accommodate more young learners.

“Christians and Muslims can come together without fighting,” Armand says. “We are living proof that things can work out if we concentrate on the things that unite us.”

Annora adds, “We stayed true to our beliefs and have mutual respect and understanding for each other.” The peace loving couple has been married for 16 years and are expecting their third child.

“Our children are exposed to both religions,” Armand explains. It is this kind of open-mindedness that the family hopes they can introduce to others in the country through education.

“We came here with almost nothing – a typewriter, a stereo, an electric fan and two bags,” Annora shares on the couple’s humble beginnings in Manila. Despite the initial hardships, what started out as a six-month plan became 18 years that have seen many improvements in the lives of the Nocums.

“But our relatives are still vulnerable,” says Armand of the situation back home in Mindanao. To be able to help not only his family, but all those in his hometown, Armand decided to build a library to give as many children as possible access to information. “I wanted to show the Muslims that not all Christians are bad, and vise versa,” he says.

In 2008, with the support of his family – his mother is now the library director – Armand used his ancestral land for the site and friends donated cash which was enough to put up the first floor of a planned two-storey library which they call the Kristyano-Islam (Kris) Peace Lib-rary. The International School Manila, through Kids Foundation, Ahon, and Quota, donated 97 boxes of high quality books and encyclopedias to fill the shelves on the first floor. The Kris Peace Library is the only private library in Zamboanga, with kids flocking in from neighboring barangays and towns to visit and do research for school projects. Even teachers find the library as a very important learning tool in helping them prepare their lessons.

Annora recalls the wide-eyed children when they saw the books for the first time. “They were very excited,” she shares, adding that at first there were many raised eyebrows from government and school officials, not sure of the importance of the library when they first opened it. Now, however, the results clearly show that the children of Zamboanga are benefitting greatly from the project.

Boxes of donated books fill a room at the Nocum residence, ready for shipping to Mindanao.

“Two library users graduated valedictorian and salutatorian,” the Nocums proudly report. Three are vying for high school valedictorian and some have scholarships. The library has fostered the habit of reading in the young students and has opened them up to worlds beyond their imagination.

The couple also supports 67 scholars, many of them honor students. “It is a lot of sacrifice, but it is worth it,” says Annora.

Teachers attest to the fact that children have gotten higher grades from the time that the Kris Peace Library opened in Zamboanga City. Children have gained confidence and more actively participate in class.

Most of all they now dream – to become doctors and architects, to finish high school and go on to college. “They now have ambition, drive and purpose in life,” says Armand. Because of this, less and less children find the need to turn to violence.

The Kris Peace Library also gives the children their first encounter with computers. Seeing the success of their program, the Nocums believe that it is time to bring it to the next level, with a project that they have dubbed CW2CW, or Child Warriors to Cyber Warriors.

In the CW2CW program, the couple aims to lessen the recruitment of child soldiers by arming children with knowledge through access to the Internet, opening them to a world that virtually has no boundaries.

Many children become young soldiers or spies because of their family’s financial situation, viewing the rebel groups as their only way out of poverty. These children see life only one way – through the barrel of a gun, either pointing at them or at their enemy. “We are giving them a different view of life through the magic of the Internet,” says Armand.

“Instead of being warriors with guns, we want them to get addicted to computers and become warriors of the cyber age,” he explains. “We want to take their minds off violence and terrorism. We want them to go and conquer the electronic world, ride the information highway, instead of having to go to war.”

Children who become soldiers at such a young age often get caught up in a war that they did not start – a war that continues because of a cycle of violence. “We want to cut this vicious cycle of poverty, illiteracy, bigotry, and terrorism through education and computers,” says Armand.

Most of all, the Kris Peace Library gives a venue for Muslim and Christian children to interact in a place free of religious bias and tension. Annora shares that seeing the children together in the library, learning and reading without the boundaries of religious beliefs or politics, is truly heart warming.

The Nocums are constantly looking for ways to improve their project. They are working to make the library financially viable instead of having to rely on donations. Meantime, 10 percent of profit from their businesses automatically goes to the library. They are always on the lookout for generous sponsors and donors who can help by donating books, school supplies, and computers. They hope that they can come up with enough funds to complete the second floor of the library and be able to accommodate even more young learners. Because of the success of the library, many bright students who are graduating from high school want to pursue further studies but need scholarships and support to be able to go to college.

In the spirit of the holidays, the Nocums hope that those who are more privileged will reach out. Annora shares that, being from Sulu which is closer to Malaysia than the rest of the Philippines, it is easy to feel detached from the rest of the country.

“It is easy for them to rebel because they don’t feel like they are a part of the country,” says Armand. “Sharing across the seas by people in Manila is one way of integrating them into Philippine society and showing that we care for them.

“We are one Filipino race, although diverse in culture and religion,” he adds.

“We are not rich philanthropists,” the couple adds. “We are people in Manila who care. The act of giving breaks down hatred, bias, mistrust, and negative feelings.”

“Bias is based on ignorance and bigotry,” says Armand. “Education is the key.” Through the Kris Peace Library and the A-Book-Saya Group, the Nocums strive to provide the children of Mindanao with the education to become open minded individuals with a respect for diverse religions and cultures.

“We don’t have the illusion that we can change the world,” says Armand. “I just want to change one kid at a time. We envision a nation with mature, educated, open minded, understanding Muslims and Christians living in peace... A world without bias. This is the world my children are growing in to.”

After all, as Annora points out, whether one is Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, or of any other creed, beyond anything else, “Religion is humanity.”

Through the Kris Peace Library, the Nocums have taken children away from guns and given them the option of peace, putting in their hands books and computers, giving these children from Mindanao not only knowledge, but arming them with dreams.

For more information on how you can help the A-Book-Saya Group, call 703-0040, 353-8482, 091589779 or email armand[email protected]. Donors may also find out more about the cause on Facebook by typing Books For Guns or A-Book-Saya Group.