World Of Witness - Philippines - Pantoja

Pantoja, Daniel & Joji
E-mail:
Web: peacebuilderscommunity.org/

Home Congregation

Peace Mennonite Church, Richmond, BC

Ministry

Daniel and Joji Pantoja live in Davao, a city in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao. As founders of PeaceBuilders Community, they are training leaders who would organize and form Peace and Reconciliation Teams (PAR-T). PAR-Ts are composed of local volunteers from various communities. They are trained for 8 months in the following areas: Armed Conflict Area Survival Training, Fact-Finding Missions, Conflict Transformation, Disaster Preparedness, Trauma Healing, Inter-Faith Dialogue, Medical and Relief Operations, Development Communications, Cross-Cultural Communications, and Personal Growth & Development.

The mission of PAR-Ts is four-pronged:

to promote peace and reconciliation in our land by giving skilled, courageous support to communities experiencing various conflicts;
to inspire various parties-in-conflict to discard violence in favor of nonviolent action as a means of settling differences;
to provide various communities with first-hand information and resources for responding to situations of conflict, and to urge their active involvement; and,
to interpret a nonviolent perspective to the media and to our nation as a whole.

A former financial planner, Joji left her career in Vancouver for Mindanao. Joji said, “I can’t imagine having a summary of my life printed on my tombstone as, “Spent her life managing rich people’s money.” I want to be remembered as a person who walked with the people as they find dignity through sustainable economic development.

Asked what fuels Daniel’s excitement and positive outlook in life despite the negative stuff happening around him, Daniel replied, “It’s the positive influence of Jesus – a 1st century Palestinian carpenter who was executed by the imperial power of his time. He said, “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

Long Term Workers