Bringing Food and Peace to Lake Marayag
Transforming a lake and a community
It is hard to imagine, but life around Lake Marayag hasn’t always been so peaceful. Violence and armed hold-ups were part of daily life, which crippled progress, limited families’ income and kept visitors away.
“There were lots of petty crimes at Lake Marayag, so the Mayor decided to clean-up the area and get rid of its bad image,” says Mishael Argonza, National Programme Officer at World Food Programme.
The transformation begins
In 2014, WFP supported the Department of Agrarian Reform and began constructing a road to link the lake with local markets. Farmers were struggling to cover the costs to transport their produce, and the road was a chance for farmers to increase their income and improve their quality of life.
However, not even a road could not help farmers during frequent floods, which the farmers dreaded. The flooded lake destroyed crops and cut-off road access. To help — WFP collaborated with the local government to support families to build flood control dikes along the 36-hectare lake, and establish alternative livelihoods by maximizing the lake and its surrounding land.
Empowering the peacekeepers
Larida Mae Abedin is the President of Women of War (WOW) Matanog, a group whose members are mostly war widows. She has seen the differences these projects have made in her community.
The WOW group began cooking and selling meals for the workers who constructed the road and dike. Although their families were involved in rido (clan wars), WOW Matanog members have maintained respect among each other throughout the conflicts. When they were given the opportunity to participate in livelihood trainings and workshops, they established friendships that allowed them to advocate effectively for peace within their community.
“Our greatest achievement is developing our self-confidence by earning our own income. Women here used to just stay inside their houses as do they were told. Now, they are able to go outside, have a social life, and progress,” shares Larida.
Three years on
It has been three years since WFP completed our work at Lake Marayag. The area withstood storm after storm and yet, the fish cages that the community built are still there, the bridge still mirrors the gleaming surface of the lake, and families can still have a picnic at the nipa huts. The women of Matanog are still there in their colorful “malongs” to welcome guests, and proudly show people the beauty of the lake.
“WFP us working as a catalyst, bringing altogether stakeholders to work for the development of a certain community or a certain area that’s needing assistance or attention of other stakeholders,” Mishael states.
To this day, the major sources of income from the lake includes harvesting and selling “sakurab” or oriental scallions, and producing native coffee. Community members also maintain and manage the rental of the pavilion beside the lake, which was constructed through the initiative of the local government after WFP’s handover of the project.
“We do not stop working once we start earning. We continue helping each other,” says Larida who previously led a group with 25 members when they started in 2014, currently leads 300 members of WOW Matanog.
“One important lesson that we learned about ourselves is realizing that we can do a lot more than what we used to think. Now we know that we can earn income even by just doing simple and small things.”
