White Flag

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My sister-in-law sent me this photo of our gate (our house is within the premises of MSU campus) where a white flag is raised to indicate that civilians live inside. Among us, Meranaos, a white flag hanging outside a house means death and mourning. My SIL told me that almost all houses and cars wave white flags. How apt in this time of mourning for our dying Motherland.😥 I terribly miss home. I badly want to "hug" Marawi if I can only do so.

 #MarawiInMyHeart 

#MarawiMyHome 

#BornAndRaised 

#LetsBuildMarawiAgain

📷 @lonelyplanet Lake. Mountains. Blue Sky. Cool weather. Very Marawi. 😢 #MarawiInMyHeart #thisisnotMarawi

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Two of the million things that the #MarawiSiege taught us are 1.) detachment from the material world and 2.) valuing real and genuine relationships. In spite of everything, alhamdulillah for decades-long friendship. @lilidmd_md 👭👩🏻‍⚕️👩🏻‍⚕️ #jaigufriends

Not even in my worst nightmare did I ever thought of living to see the ruins of our city. 😭 #MarawiInMyHeart #MarawiMyHome #BornAndRaised

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"I'm six (6) months old today and supposed to be boarded on a plane going to our hometown, Marawi, but nope, we're cancelling our flight because of the uncertainties of the situation there. My Ina badly wants to curse the people who wreaked havoc in our inged a Ranao but I smiled at her to remind her to bear patience and leave the fate of those bad people in the hands of Allah. Allah is The Most Just, He will never allow evil to triumph. We are really excited to go home, my Ina has been planning it for several months now, but it's not yet the right time. Hopefully, when peace starts to settle in, we'll be the first people to board the plane. In shaa Allah. ❤️" #AmreenNurlailah

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What breaks my heart about the Marawi siege is the fact that I will no longer walk my children through my childhood in the place where I was born and raised. It hurts me because all my plans of raising my kids in inged are all gone. I'm not even sure when will we return to the place we call home. I am more resolved now to raise my daughters in a very Meranao household (language and the good in our traditions) to plant their identity in their hearts, in shaa Allah. The future maybe dark for us now but let us not lost hope in the mercy of Allah (swt). Rebuilding Marawi will start with us and will continue in our children's generation, and hopefully they're a lot better than us. In shaa Allah.

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Several nights ago, had an iftar with these two ladies whose presence in my life means so much. Was able to finally let out my feelings about the Marawi siege. @leiremd, who is a Psychia resident thought I may be having an acute stress disorder. If I'm going through this who's thousand miles away from Marawi, ano na lang ang mga nandon mismo at yung iba na-trap pa in the middle of yhe firefight and bombings? Subhanallah. I hope and pray the Marawi siege ends soon because this is too much already. Kawawa na ang mga nasa evac centers. I cannot imagine the emotions when the Meranaos return to Marawi, when most houses were either deliberately burnt by the militants or bombed by the military. Yung mga nakasurvive naman na bahay, ninakawan ng mga oportunista. Subhanallah. The civilians have suffered so much. Realistically speaking, physical rehabilitation of Marawi will take decades. I pray that along with this rehabilitation, may we also put our characters under rehab and may we stand united for a better Marawi. Ameen.