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Pinoy Abroad

UP student to use part of $4,000 prize to help Muslim kids


The 16-year-old Filipina Christian-Muslim who won an international award for building libraries and distributing books in known rebel hotspots in the Philippines will use part of her $4,000 prize money to help Muslim women and children. Arriza Ann Sahi Nocum, an Industrial Engineering freshman at the University of the Philippines, won a Zonta International Award that is given to young women aged 16-19 years old who demonstrate a commitment to leadership in public policy, government and volunteer organizations. In a statement, Nocum said part of her prize money will go to the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS), an organization put up by her Christian father and Muslim mother to help educate poor children. “Amid the celebration of the Eid’l Fitr, I lament and continue to be disturbed by the problems affecting the Muslim society in the Philippines, especially the sad plight of Muslim women and children," Nocum said. "I am donating part of the US $4,000 prize from Zonta Foundation -- which was given to me for my educational advancement -- to the Kristiyano-Islam Peace Library (KRIS) to finance its literacy programs," Nocum said. Nocum, a UP Oblation scholar, will provide for several scholarship grants, which she said is a part of fulfilling her "obligation" to the country as an "iskolar ng bayan." The Zonta Award recipient said she expects her scholars to finish their studies to fulfill meaningful roles in their communities and become "Mindanao's change-makers." She said she is "disturbed by the problems affecting the Muslim society in the Philippines," adding that Mindanao has consistently registered the highest drop-out rates and the lowest scores in national achievement tests. Nocum is the administrator of Kris, which has built five libraries around the country—including one in an alleged Abu Sayyaf hotspot in Zamboanga City. The organization also supports over a hundred scholars from Mindanao, and it has given out computer units and thousands of books to poor communities. Nocum first bagged a US$1, 000 grant from the Zonta Award of District 17, after besting other finalists from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. She received another US$3, 000 for winning in the international level, along with four others from Ghana, India, Switzerland, and the US. Zonta International is an organization of professionals aiming to lift the status of women worldwide. - with Rose Ann Dioquino, VVP, GMA News

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