World’s Longest Peace Mural in the Works Along EDSA
White is the color most often associated with the concept of peace. Over the past three Saturdays, however, peace has become a celebration of vivid color.
Through the collective efforts of non-government organizations Asia America Initiative (AAI) and Dolphins Love Freedom Movement (DLF), alongside the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP), and the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Lakbay para sa KapaYapaAn sa EDSA (A Journey of Peace in EDSA) — which also goes by the codename, Project EDSA — kicked off last May 26, 2013 with the goal of advocating participative and collaborative involvement in the peace-building process.
“What we aim to do is create more awareness about the peace-building process,” Bai Rohazina Sumndad-Usman, Asia America Initiative Philippines Country Director explained. “At the same time, we also want to show how every Filipino can contribute to peace and development in the country through simple, everyday actions.”
Bayanihan and Beyond
Designed to instill the spirit of peace into the consciousness of Filipino society through an elaborate, large-scale public display of art, Project EDSA is a peace mural painting initiative which is also shaping up to become a record-setting demonstration of unity and solidarity, not to mention the distinctively Filipino ‘Bayanihan’ culture of cooperation and collaboration. Through its three legs to date (May 26, June 1, and June 8), the project has drawn hundreds of volunteers — inclusive of diverse ranges of age, sex, religion, and race. Last Saturday alone, Project EDSA gathered an inspired crowd of 567 volunteers who braved the sun and rain alike to add their very own brushstrokes to the peace mural stretching around the walls of Camp Aguinaldo along Bonny Serrano Avenue.
“If we want to be united, we need people from different sides [of the social spectrum] to highlight the [diverse] values of Filipinos [that can ultimately] contribute to peace-building,” shared AG Saño of the Dolphins Love Freedom Movement and lead artist of Project EDSA. “That’s the spirit of bayanihan. By doing that, we create a culture of love, a culture of camaraderie. How can war be possible if there is such a culture?”
Volunteers themselves were beaming with inspiration and optimism, expressing sentiments of hope and full-hearted support for the cause upon which Project EDSA is founded. 70-year-old painter and Gabriela member, Ms. Lydia Velasco, for one, found this activity to be a refreshing take on unity and solidarity expressed on the pavement of EDSA.
“EDSA is truly close to my heart,” Velasco disclosed. “I’ve taken part in the People Power revolution(s) that have taken place here. Now, my heart as an artist is even more fulfilled to see such skilled and motivated people — children, the elderly, military men and women, etc. — uniting again for the common good of the Filipino people. Everyone is working out of sheer love, not asking for anything in return.”
Khrieztin, the 18-year-old daughter of a soldier who had been killed in action in 2005, expressed a similar appreciation for the chance to be involved: “I’m pleased to be part [of Project EDSA]. We all want the quality of our lives to improve. Myself having come from Sultan Kudarat, Cotabato, I’ve experienced the difficulties of a war-torn life. I would like the coming generations to be met with more peaceful conditions. No more fighting, no more disharmony. No more deaths.”
A Statement Heard All Around The World
The Project EDSA peace mural, conceptualized and laid out by local artists under Saño’s leadership, is set to be the world’s longest peace mural upon completion, stretching across an approximate distance of 3,770 meters that covers the EDSA-Santolan, Bonny Serrano, and White Plains areas.
In light of this impending achievement, Saño clarified, “our mural is not about setting a world record. It’s still about the message [that we want to convey].”
The schedule for verification by the Guinness Book of World Records has yet to be announced. The current record-holder for the longest peace mural in the world is Chile’s Wall for Peace, a 900-meter piece created in 2009.
A Chance to be Part of History
Two more legs of the mural-painting activities are scheduled for June 15 and June 22. To join, visit http://www.ivolunteer.com.ph/projectedsa.
“Everyone still has a chance to be part of this,” said Saño. “Not just to help make the longest peace mural in the world, but to be part of something bigger — an effort that can help generate true and lasting peace for our country.”
Learn more about Project EDSA on longestpeacemuralph.wordpress.com and facebook.com/projectedsa, as well as by following @peacemuralph and the hashtags #edsapeacemural and #longestpeacemural on Twitter.
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Project EDSA is sponsored by Davies Paint Philippines, Universal Paint Philippines, Manila Water, Bayani Brew, Enchanted Water, the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Belle de Jour, Chikka Philippines, YSA Skin and Body Clinic, JANCEN COSMETIC SURGERY STEM CELL ASIA Red Ei8ht Inc., Jolibee Foods Corporation , AFP Retirement and Separation Benefits System, Robert Camba Catering Services , Asian Tigers , Automatic Data Processing
Lakbay para sa Kapayapaan sa Edsa 