Ustazah (a female teacher) Rainisah Acmad guides a young learner of Arabic alphabet inside the Madrasah. Community volunteers in Barangay Tingintingin, Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte addressed the low rate of Arabic learning in their area by constructing a Madrasah (which means a “place where learning and studying take place”) through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s poverty-alleviation program Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services: National Community Driven Development Program (KALAHI CIDSS-NCDDP). Barangay Tingintingin is an upland community, 5 kilometers from the Poblacion and about 40 minutes travel by land with a Muslim-Christian population.  The residents’ main source of income is farming. The Madrasah was completed in 2013 with a total project cost of Php 363,700.00 (PAMANA Php 300,000.00 and Barangay Local Government Unit local counterpart contribution of Php 63,700.00). Kauswagan was one of the municipalities in Lanao del Norte that suffered in the “all-out-war” in the year 2000. After the fateful events and atrocities, Kauswagan has emerged as a thriving municipality in terms of agriculture and business.  

Photo by Shaun Alejandrae Yap Uy, SMO, DSWD X