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October is the month for children as this was tagged as the children’s month. A nationwide celebration for children to showcase their talents and skills. In line with the Children’s Month celebration, DSWD conducted a Children’s Congress for children evacuees from the armed conflict in Zamboanga City. This year, DSWD gave significance to affected children with the said conflict to at least show importance that despite the incident children has still the right to enjoy life.

The activity showcased the creativity of the children with the theme: “Kahirapan ay Wakasan, Karapatan ng Bata ay Ipaglaban”. Each evacuation center has their own contestants from categories  3-5, 6-12 and 13-17 years old. With the Draw and Tell contest, each contestant were given 30 minutes to draw their interpretation in this years theme and were given the chance to explain what they have drawn.

For category 3-5 years old,Yolly Alejo from the Grandstand evacuation ranked 3rd place, Richard Repolon ranked 2nd from Tetuan Central School Evacuation Center while Arwina Wahid from Baliwan Central School Evacuation Center bagged the 1st Place. For category 6-12 years old, Jeralyn Castro from Sta. Maria Elementary School Evacuation finished as 3rd placer while Kezrie Hayudini a student representative from East Central School ranked as 2nd placer and Ferdinand Abdurahman from West High School evacuation center was awarded as the 1st placer. For the 7-17 years old Category, Shiela Mae Flores from Tetuan Central School evacuation center landed on the 3rd place and Joshua Nationales from Sta. Maria Evacuation ranked as 2nd placer while Bash Idlasan from West High School evacuation was awarded as the 1st placer.

All the contestants showed their creativity and fluency in the said Draw and Tell contest. Each piece explains their experiences during the conflict and their views to overcome such crisis situation. It was indeed an impressive output from children evacuees how positive they foresee their life in the years to come after having the traumatic experience once they had.### JLE###