Pater – a Maranao dish served with rice and small chunks of either fish, chicken or beef, wrapped usually in banana leaf – while building their own house in West Marinaut, Marawi City. After her husband’s death, she was left to take care of her family. She narrated about their plight away from their home in Marawi. On May 23, 2017, she was still in Iligan City attending some business when she heard of the incident. She was so worried for her children who were left in their home, while some are at school. At the eve of 23 May 2017, upon hearing the news, she hurriedly went home to look for her children but was not allowed entry at Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur. It was difficult to contact her children until the battery went dead. On May 24, 2017, she managed to enter Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur and was not allowed entry at Barangy (Brgy.) BasaK Malutlut, she slept with her relative at Brgy. Banggolo. On the next day she went to the Provincial Capitol of Marawi to check on her children with the help of some relatives she was reunited with her four (4) children. She kept on looking for her other four (4) children, contacted few of her friends to no avail the search proved futile. Due to lack of financial capacity to personally search for her children and the feeling of not knowing where they were, she was hospitalized for few days. She wanted to personally locate her children; but she is not capable of doing so, due to some financial issues. She is then left with reporting her missing children to Red Cross. So far, there are no leads as to their whereabouts. Fatima emphasized her gratefulness to the support she and her family receive. But she is only focus on the most important thing, that she be reunited with her other four children who are still missing. ### Michael is 26 years old, and identified as part of the LGBTI community. Michael also reiterates that she’s “girl na girl” (flamboyantly queer), that she used to sported a very long hair. Michael shared that, before the conflict, she worked in one of the parlors in Kampo Ranao, Marawi City. She also conveyed that, due to the conflict and the influx of IDPs, she decided to have her hair cut – a “normal” boy’s cut to not draw attention to herself. But she emphasized she’s “girl na girl, kahit ganito ako ngayon,” (she’s still flamboyantly queer, even if she cut her hair) referring to her more masculine gender expression. Seeing the many IDPs in Saguiran EC, and as one of the home-based IDP in Saguiaran, Michael volunteered to be one of the IDP group leaders. Asked if being a transgender woman affected her leadership and the way he was treated by fellow IDPs; she answered, “Minsan nakakapagod din maging LGBTI, kung minsan may mariring ka ng hindi mo gusto. Minsan nakarinig ako na ‘kaya nagbarilan at nabomba ang Marawi dahil sa mga bakla’, mga ganun na mga masamang salita. Sabi ko sa sarili ko, wala kayong karapatan na humusga pero hindi na ako nagsalita. Wala kayong karapatan humusga dahil una sa lahat hindi ako hinusgahan ng mga magulang at higit sa lahat hindi ko kayo binastos.” (Sometimes it is really tiring to be an LGBTI, sometimes you’ll hear something that you wouldn’t like. One time I heard something like, ‘it is because of the Baklas [gays or transgender women] that’s why there are shootings and bombings in Marawi’, those kind of offensive connotations. So I told myself, ‘you don’t have the right to judge other people’, I didn’t verbalize it to them though. ‘You don’t have the right to judge other people because first of all, my parents didn’t judge me; most of all, I am not rude/impolite/immodest/indecent to all of you). Michael shared that when she volunteered as a team leader, she asked them if they will accept him as a leader and they did. Since then she served as one of the group leaders. She admits it pains to hear things said about LGBTIs. She rather chooses not to say anything to prevent further conflict; even though the insults pain her most of the time. 27