Here is an interview with Tata Andi, a Muslim friend from Mindanao who participated in the Open City, a bi-monthly gathering of the Focolare held in Mariapolis Peace, Tagaytay, last August 10, 2008.

Can you share with us something about your Muslim faith?
Muslim by birth, I grew up in a Muslim culture in Cotabato, Mindanao. Seven years ago my family and I transferred to General Santos, South Cotobato. Islam is a beautiful religion. No matter what our nationality is, our sense of belonging to the Muslim faith and being one is very strong, making us all Muslims equal and one.

How did you meet the Focolare Movement?
I met the Focolare Movement in 1995 in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City. Some Muslim professors and students there knew the Movement. Then, I also came across some articles in New City Magazine and I liked them because they expressed universal brotherhood. For me, the life of the Focolare is something beautiful. My friendship with members of the Movement was also different, so I asked one of my Focolare friends if I could visit their center in Tagaytay called “Mariapolis Peace.” Arriving at the Mariapolis, I really felt something extraordinarily different. With their warm welcome, it was as if these new friends were people I had known for so long. I stayed with them for 3 days. Before, I had thought that Muslims were only for Muslims, and Christians were only for Christians. But after meeting these new friends, it’s difficult to explain why my idea changed. In 1997, Chiara Lubich visited the Philippines. I was present in Tagaytay when she came. Seeing her personally, I felt a certain peace deep within, as if she were a friend whom I had not seen for a long time.

Can you tell us how you practice the life of love in your family?
Having learned about this life of love and the culture of giving, and seeing it lived by the Focolare members, I try as much as possible to put this into practice in my own family life. One time my cousin in Mindanao needed help for her children’s enrollment. I was a little bit worried because I did have some savings but my children too had to enroll for the school year. Moreover, I had not bought their school supplies yet. Yet I was also anxious for my cousin because in our place, if you are not able to pay the enrollment fee, the children will go to the lowest sections in the public elementary school even if your child is intel ligent. So I talked with my husband and children, explaining the situation to my children. I asked them if we could postpone our buying of school supplies like new bags. My daughters agreed, but requested of course that I buy them some notebooks as these were much needed in the school since they still had their old school bags. When we got to the bookstore, they saw the bag they wanted and immediately got hold of them. I reminded them of our agreement to postpone buying the bags for their cousins who were in greater need of money for enrollment. Of course it was a suffering for my daughters and for me too. But I knew that in that moment they were learning about the culture of sharing. Then during those days, I received a surprise visit from my aunt who came from London to stay with us and invited me to go shopping with her. At a certain moment, she asked me to choose what I wanted for myself like new shoes and clothes, and she would have paid. I immediately asked her if I could instead buy school bags for my daughters. Of course, she agreed and I really felt so blessed because the price had gone down by 50 percent from that day when I wanted to buy it for my children. My daughters were also very happy when I gave the bags to them. They immediately placed their notebooks in their new bags.

Can you tell us something of Mindanao?
Life in Mindanao, especially in my place, is really hard. Just to pass the zigzag roads from General Santos to Davao is scary, and poverty is really present among the people. But stories of generosity and selfgiving abound, regardless of religion. I remember my mother, who was very generous, telling us that the good that we do unto others will also return to us. She was running a restaurant, and poor people were asking her for food, so she generously shared with them. In spite of my mother’s generosity, the restaurant never went broke. I had to ask her to stop working because she was getting sick and weak. I remember during Ramadan, the food that she herself was about to eat, she would still share with the poor people surrounding our mosque. We sent our children to a Christian school in General Santos. The administrators are so good to respect our religious traditions as to allow my child to pray at the scheduled prayer time. During Friday, my husband fetches my child from school for prayer time and then after their prayers, he returns our child to school. There’s really much respect and harmony among members of different religious convictions in Mindanao.

How about the Mindanao conflict?
As for the Mindanao peace process, I really don’t want to comment on politics. But as an ordinary citizen, perhaps I can also share my view on it. I encouraged my children to pray and to have a personal relationship with Allah. Of course, the prayers are in Arabic and they are learning them. But at this time, they cannot fully understand these prayers yet. So I encouraged them to have this personal relationship and dialogue with Allah. One time I asked my child Omar what he had asked Allah? He said, “I asked Allah to give me a white heart.” In school they were encouraged by the teachers to have a white heart—a symbol of purity in loving Allah and neighbor. This is also my prayer to Allah—for everyone involved in the peace process and in Mindanao to have a white heart— so that there will no longer be any crab mentality, nor vested and selfish interests. I pray hard to Allah to grant everyone right thinking and an enduring patience.

Any last words?
For almost two years, I lost my contact with the Focolare. But I always wanted to stay in touch with them. So I searched the website and landed up with focolare.org then, only to find out that I was contacting the Focolare Center in Rome. Of course they referred me back to the Focolare in Manila and Tagaytay. So after 11 years I was able to return to Mariapolis Peace in Tagaytay. Now about to leave for work in Qatar, I am also happy to know that we have some Filipino members of the Focolare who are working there. I really wanted to visit this place again before leaving the country. Allah granted my prayer. I was able to attend “Open City” once again in Mariapolis Peace where I’ve felt the Focolare’s love and friendship.

Jose Aranas