Sambulawan, Philippines  - Muslima Abubakar has spent the past year moving from one evacuation centre to another after her home was razed to the ground during hostilities between Muslim rebels and the military in the southern Philippines.

"Our entire community was burned to the ground," the 43-year-old mother of eight said as she recalled her family's flight from their home in the mountains of Sambulawan village in Maguindanao province, 960 kilometres south of Manila.

"We left in the middle of the night, carrying what we can on our back, and walked as far away as we could," she added.

Tired and restless from their dislocation, Abubakar said it was the second year she and her family spent Islam's holy month of Ramadan in fear for their life.

"We still don't know when we would be able to return to our homes," she said. "It's very painful to have to leave our homes. We want to return, but we cannot go back yet because we fear for our lives. We are really afraid for our lives."

A few months ago, Abubakar and her family moved to a refugee encampment at the back of a Muslim school along a highway in Sambulawan, where more than 1,000 displaced families have set up camp in various districts.

The families built small makeshift huts from bamboo slats with dried coconut leaves as roofs, which drip during heavy downpours. They have no sanitary lavatories or access to potable water. Unable to make a living, they rely on relief goods - basically rice and canned goods - from various aid agencies.

"If the supplies don't come, we have nothing," Abubakar said. "There is nothing for us here. This is not the life we want."

While the fighting has ceased during Ramadan, the holy month has brought little pause to the suffering and hardships of displaced Muslim families like Abubakar's.

"Life is quiet now, no more bazookas at night," she said. "But the military is still going after our men. They take the men on suspicion that they are Muslim rebels. Our men no longer come back. We never see them again."

Kulot Pinagayo, a mother of seven, carries in her wallet a brown piece of paper where she wrote the date when her 24-year-old son was seized by soldiers.

"He just went out to get supplies being distributed then by the Red Cross," she said through a translator. "I pleaded with the soldiers not to take him because he has a family, but they wouldn't listen."

Pinagayo has not seen her son, Salipurin, since May 7 and believes that he is already dead.

"Two others who were taken with him have turned up dead," she said, her eyes glassy and weary. "He's probably dead now. I just want his body so I can bury him properly."

For the end of Ramadan, which Muslims usually celebrate with a feast, Abubakar said families in the refugee camp have nothing to celebrate.

"We have no money, we have no homes, we have no livelihood, we have nothing," she said.

Balebadan Ganoy, a village councilor and a Muslim cleric in the encampment, said relief goods from aid agencies were often not enough for their families so men go fishing in a murky marshland at the back of their encampment.

But the marshland has also brought illness to many refugees, leading to the deaths of at least 10 people, he said.

The 68-year-old village elder said refugees have turned to their faith amid their misery and pray for only one thing - that the fighting will end permanently.

"Those who are fighting should realize that they are not the only ones suffering," he added. "The civilians who have nothing to do with the war are the ones who suffer most."

He said many Muslim children had to stop schooling, especially teenage boys, because their parents feared they could become victims of the military's crackdown against suspected members and supporters of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

During the holy month of Ramadan, the military has stopped its offensive aimed at capturing three MILF commanders who led a series of deadly attacks that triggered the renewed fighting since August 2008.

More than 300 people have been killed in the rebel attacks and subsequent fighting between the military and the MILF. More than half a million people were also displaced in Maguindanao and five other nearby provinces at the height of the hostilities.

Ganoy said the displaced families were hopeful that a final peace agreement would soon be signed between the MILF and the government.

"We are all tired of leaving our homes, then going back, only to leave our homes again because there is renewed fighting," he said. "We're very weary of being caught in the crossfire. We want to move back home and stay there in peace." (dpa)