Rise Up: Protection and mental health turning lives around

Story originally published by the Philippine Information Agency on April 03, 2023

By Pamela Joyce Fumero

MARAWI CITY (PIA)–From the literal war flashbacks brought about by the Marawi siege in 2017 to the trauma of living through a pandemic that changed the world, people in Marawi City were needing help left and right, and thankfully even more people were willing to answer the call.

Aiming to promote the protection of 4,000 households or 20,000 individuals to recover from the early economic and psychosocial impact of the pandemic, international non-government organization (INGO), Community and Family Services International (CFSI) started the Marawi COVID Recovery Project (MCRP) with funding from the Australian government.

Two of the project components- protection and psychosocial support – have been actively working together to aid their beneficiaries with the former having four main activities under their belt while the latter carry out their operations.

When they started one of their older projects, the Marawi Recovery Project, back in 2021, one of the biggest issues that came out was the people’s lack of documents – birth certificates, to be more specific. Seeing as how the majority – if not all – of the services offered to IDPs at that time required security papers, they decided to not only continue this agenda but also make it one of its number one activities when they started the MCRP.

Partnering with Region 10, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA)-Lanao del Sur, and the Local Civil Registry (LCR) of Ditsaan-Ramain, Masiu, Marantao, Lumbayanague, Butig, and Piagapo as well as in the City of Marawi, they are consistently and actively working towards addressing the need for birth certificate security papers in the province of Lanao del Sur.

This proved to be more than helpful not just in availing social services from both government and private agencies as well as attaining other IDs like the person with disability (PWD) and senior citizen IDs, but also with the return to face-to-face classes wherein birth certificates were one of the crucial requirements for enrollment.

They also conducted stakeholder forums as part of their second activity. According to their colleagues on the ground, a large number of their beneficiaries are still unaware of the services offered and available to them both from CFSI’s private and government agency stakeholders. To address this concern, representatives from their stakeholders pay a visit to their areas of coverage to explain the services they offer as well as how to avail of them.

However, because not all of the issues and concerns on the ground have a corresponding program with their stakeholders, their third activity under the program is a protection forum wherein CFSI themselves act as a bridge wherein they relay the concern on the ground to their stakeholders so they can accommodate these said concerns.

Lastly, because they firmly believe that information is still the best aid to awareness, CFSI also conducts information, education, and community drives mainly surrounding health as MCRP is a COVID response project.

It is because of these activities and the actions taken by their protection component that has allowed their psychosocial support competent to perform to their fullest potential. They catered to the elderly with chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, as well as hypertension among other things, and these beneficiaries were able to avail of their services because of profiling which could not have been done without their security papers provided by their protection component.

They have also provided medical checkups as well as needed medication to their areas of coverage and have worked together with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) government, the latter agreeing to provide psychotropic medication for the rural health units within their area of coverage.

However, stigma surrounding mental health is still present and while they offer psychosocial support, especially to children who suffer from developmental and intellectual disorders, there was still some pushback from parents who refused to even entertain the thought that their children might have these disorders.

After meeting with a psychiatrist and psychologist who confirmed that their children were qualified for the diagnoses, however, they were more willing to listen and more open to suggested courses of action.

CFSI was able to put 21 children with developmental and intellectual disorders through occupational therapy, but unfortunately, due to budget constraints, they were only able to sponsor 10 sessions for each patient as opposed to the 72 sessions recommended by their psychologist.

They worked closely with Medbay Therapy and Learning Center in Iligan City to cater to their neurodivergent beneficiaries and conducted a monthly parent-therapist meeting to update the parents on their child’s progress as well as allow them to ask questions regarding how to handle their children.

Where there was doubt and hesitation, now they held curiosity and genuine interest in their children’s well-being. Some parents would even take videotapes of the therapy sessions to act as guides for handling them at home.

Other hospitals and facilities they work with are Amai Pakpak Medical Center, Mindalano Specialist Hospital Foundation as well as Dr. Abdullah Hospital Foundation. While private hospitals are a little more expensive, they have the benefit of not having as much conflict with scheduling and it was easier to prioritize their beneficiaries which were composed of their chronically ill patients with asthma, hypertension, and the like.

As for their mental health patients, who suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and paranoia, they were referred to Dr. Sagge’s Clinic at the Iligan City Health Office. Despite not being residents of the city, their clients were given discounts and free medication whenever there was any available.

CFSI’s Psychosocial Support Officer, Amal Edres, expressed how important it is to offer understanding towards children with special needs, for if normally developed children struggle as they go through life, imagine what neurodivergent children have to go through. She called for compassion above all else, as this is something that the world—especially the world of children with special needs—desperately needs.

Protection Officer Mohammad Nassif Elias also told their recipients not to worry because CFSI is always working to solve any problems that come to their office. (PJF/PIA-10/Lanao del Sur)

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With support from the Australian Government, CFSI works to help improve systems and rebuild the lives of people displaced by armed conflict in Marawi City in 2017, and later those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.