Fifteen-year-old
Monisha Lucman, or “Moning” as her family and friends call her, is a Marawi
siege survivor and one of the delegates from the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao to the 2019 National Schools Press Conference (NSPC).
Moning experienced firsthand
the deafening blasts of bombs and gunfire that enveloped the whole city of
Marawi. Houses, buildings, and even mosques were torn down, and the historic
city that once stood magnificent was reduced to ruins.
This dreadful incident
caused the death of one of her cousins and the destruction of her grandmother’s
house. Moning called her parents who were in Qatar that time and told them how
she and her brother were scared. The next day, their parents went home to
Marawi and their family fled to Iligan City for safety. They returned to Marawi
when the armed conflict was over.
Already trying to
bring back normalcy in her life, Moning saw an opportunity to voice out her
thoughts about the siege by joining the feature writing screening in her
school—Hadiyyah International School. With her wits, grit, and perseverance,
she made it to the national level.
Moning believes that
everyone has the right to live in peace and prosperity; with no war, no
inequality, no hunger. She trusts in the power of journalism–the power to
create positive change and transform lives for the better.
“The war brought so
much destruction physically and even emotionally, but I believe that through
journalism, it can bring hope and inspiration to people. War cannot break us as
Filipinos. Lessons and experiences are written to inspirit survivors of wars,
and this is one of the roles of journalism,” Moning concluded.
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