Speech Title: Objective: Author:

NO BOUNDARIES A Balanced Library Program for Christians and Muslims: Establishing a Harmonious Relationship Arizza Ann S. Nocum

Introduction. The Kristiyano-Islam Peace (KRIS) Library is an award-winning organization that has established six libraries, supported over 200 scholars, and donated thousands of books and computers to numerous communities. It serves to change the game for poor Filipinos through education. KRIS Library is a story of peace. 2001 marked the very first step the founders of KRIS Library had taken. Armand and Annora Nocum, a Muslim-Christian couple, frowned at the military solution the government had undertook to counter terrorism, and sought to contribute in rescuing their homeland of Mindanao from extreme poverty and terrorism by sowing the seeds of MuslimChristian unity and peace. They did this by establishing libraries starting in Zamboanga City, circa 2008. KRIS Library is a story of youth. Armand and Annora Nocum envisioned Muslim and Christian children diverting from the religious tension their parents had felt by learning, speaking, listening, playing, and reading together as one collective in their libraries. KRIS Library is a story of hope. After hearing the plight in the stories of children who visit the libraries, KRIS had sought to go one step further by providing scholarships (i.e. enrolment subsidy) to indigent KRIS Library beneficiaries. KRIS has supported, in the course of four years, more than 200 scholars from Luzon and Mindanao. Many of them had graduated with honors and various recognitions. A Balanced Library Program. The centrefold of KRIS Librarys program is fun (our audience being children). We strive to invoke life in our libraries through book-readings, story-telling, peer tutorials, and games. Kids books, novels, and activity material are the most prized possessions of our library. Additionally, we encourage and teach computer literacy to children, so that they may learn to harness the power of computers and the internet. Lastly, we believe in creating an interdependent community in our librarieschildren volunteer in cleaning, maintaining, teaching peers, tutoring, etcto teach the youth the value of friendship and camaraderie as they learn and grow in every step towards a brighter future. A Harmonious Relationship. KRIS Library does not discriminate. Muslims, Christians, children of other religions are welcome in our library. Currently, KRIS carries both Catholic and Muslim religious materialthe Bible along with the Quran, the Parables along with the Pillars. One of our primary objectives is to not only teach the importance of faith, but also the importance of charity. This way, we can inculcate in the minds and hearts of children that religion creates no boundaries. This way, we can teach them to break the boundaries that have caused terrorism, alienation, and poverty, and set out on their own without judgment or prejudice against other walks of life. The Future. KRIS Library has only just begun. It aims to build more libraries, support more scholars, and have more books go around. With the theme of no boundaries, we hope to instil in our beneficiaries that they themselves must have no boundaries. Forget poverty. Forget conflict. Forget limits. The future is for them to conquer and they can achieve whatever they set themselves to achieve.

KRISTIYANO-ISLAM PEACE (KRIS) LIBRARY http://krislibrary.com/