The course was organized and planned in details. Every day, except two the days when we were done and began departing, we were devoted to attend three to four meetings a day. We met central and local government institutions, national and international organizations, various communities, peace zones and peace schools. Our days began early morning in the hours of 7-9 am. There wasn’t a single day our minivan was late to pick us up from one place and take us to another. The driver was always nice, welcoming and helpful. We were constantly moving from one organization to another during the day; dinnertime was also spent productively chatting in an informal setting in the company of the organization’s representatives and the locals. At the end of the day, we had a tiny break to leave our backpacks and unnecessary belongings at our hotel rooms and went to have lunch at one of the local restaurants. Visiting numerous organizations were not the only variation in our schedule, we were also changing cities. Our route looked as follows: Davao city, Datu Montawal in Maguindanao, Magpet in Cotabato, Tulunan and Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Cagayan de Oro city.
Bridging organization between us, MIIS and CSUMB schools’ students and the Leader of the course Doctor Iyer, and Philippines was the Catholic Relief Services. They supported us in planning and managing our schedule, provided overall information about the conflict resolution snapshot/history in Philippines and explained what was the role, goals and activities taken by this organization in this long term conflict resolution process.
This course also gave an opportunity for those who were considering working in conflict resolution field a glance of what type of work awaits them.
