MANILA, Philippines – Miss World Philippines 2018 Katarina Rodriguez’s “Beauty with a Purpose” (BWAP) video has been posted online. In the video, Katarina travels to Marawi, where she meets and speaks to students, soldiers, and survivors of the war that began in 2017.
In the video, Katarina, visits a school, interacts with the kids and even joins in a boodle fight with soldiers. She also talks about Project Become, a program she initiated with friends.
In the caption for the video, Katarina wrote: “Project Become invests in the future of Marawi by investing in its children. It believes that a dream makes people love life even if its painful. Project Become believes in the children of Marawi, the future peace heroes by investing in peace education to help Marawi stand up as do the rest of the nation.”
“To accomplish this, we aim to build infrastructures such as classrooms, invest in the educators and provide instruction materials for the children. Project Become inspires children to help the become whatever they want in life and to continue dreaming.”
For photos she posted on her Instagram account, Katarina wrote: “I could hear us all thinking the same things, this city, once so beautifully a home to thousands of families is now surfaced with painful memories. We didn’t need to picture our lives getting interrupted by war because the real thing was right in front of our unblinking eyes. What we felt in this moment will never ever measure up to what those 74,000 displaced families feel. I still cannot stop thinking about having my home taken away from me forever just because my beliefs are not the same as someone else’s. What if all you knew to be good, tangible & metaphysical, was destroyed?”
On May 23, 2017, pro-ISIS fighters led by the Maute group attacked the city. The war lasted for months, with the “liberation” of Marawi announced in October that year. However, martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus is still in effect in the entire Mindanao island. (WATCH: Marawi in 360: Inside the War Zone)
Even before joining Miss World Philippines, Katarina has been involved in peace education and awareness. In 2017, she flew to the Netherlands and delivered a message during peace negotiations between the government and communists. The Beauty with a Purpose (BWAP) is the charity arm of the Miss World Organization and helps the contestants raise funds for their chosen beneficiary. Over millions of dollars have been raised for various charities under the program. Last year, Laura Lehmann’s project on the milk bank for the Jose Memorial Medical Center was one of the chosen beneficiaries. It was also one of the Top 20 of the BWAP competition. – Rappler.com
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