GK: Big Hearts
by: Tingting Cojuangco
You
got lost too? So did I. I didn't find the Gawad Kalinga
offices until I made my second U-turn on Ortigas Avenue .
Finally, there was the sign – Couples for Christ. Just
behind the two-story building is a humble set of offices,
where I noticed cases of softdrinks stacked from floor to
ceiling – a donation, I am told. Six volunteers are
having their merienda munching on siopao. On luckier days,
they would have a dozen pan de sal.
A skinny person would have no problem walking through the
narrow
entrance to the GK offices, but if you were to meet a chubby
Gawad Kalinga worker on the way in, one of you would have to
sit on a utility counter just so there was enough room for
the other to pass. It is curious how this tiny group can
convince tens of thousands on a day's notice to attend
special gatherings or do volunteer work.
Within a secretary's 2x3-sq.m. space there are 15 full-time
workers –married men, middle-aged and young women and
bachelors. At the helm of this volunteer group is home office
manager Mike Goco, their department head Issa Santos, Maria
Montelibano, Eva Monserrat, Dale Lugue, National coordinator
Luis Oquiñena, and Executive Director Tony Meloto. They all
live by this motto from Phil 4:13, "I have the strength
in everything through Him who empowers me."
"Want to see our computer room?" Boy Montelibano
asks me. At that point I'm thinking there must be a room
hidden behind with at least a dozen computers for all the
work they do. But NO! There are four computers in a 2x3-meter
room. The Smokey Mountain tenement apartments are bigger than
this enclosure and yet this group can muster thousands! No,
more than a million with their network!
"This
is Dylan, he's our volunteer from England ," Tony Meloto
tells me just as Boy Montelibano, who's bigger than Tony,
enters the enclosure and unknowingly drives me to a corner.
No more space! Dylan leaves his computer to stand up, smart
in his barong tagalog. He's more Filipino than any one in the
room, even more Filipino than I am (he's not even brown
skinned - he's a real englishman). This computer games
marketing whiz has contributed 600 houses for our poor who
were displaced by war,storms, landslides, neglect, ignorance
and lack of funds. Dylan also sold his Jaguar, Porsche and
BMW and he donated the earnings from their sales to the Gawad
Kalinga Foundation for the fulfillment of the Filipino
dream… shelter and the dissolution of class barriers. I
know, I saw the 60
houses he contributed in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao and the 150
at Griño, in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. He surely lives by
the quote, "I love you for what you are making of me."
Excusing myself to make a call, I ask, "Is there an
available line?" Not at the moment. I realize there's
only one phone and one extension. They do operate frugally to
save what they can for more houses!
Can we meet now?" Mr. Meloto asks. So six of us troop
into the narrow board room with an oversized dining table. A
contribution it had to be. Being the first to walk inside, I
know I won't be able to go to the bathroom without crawling
under the table or jumping over the laps of those seated with
their notes on the table or with their laptops. Every space
in this crammed room is taken, so much so that a pin wouldn't
know where to fall. A large whiteboard catches my attention
it's filled with the schedules of duties, provincial sorties
to check out land, drawings of houses to build, dates, names
of assigned volunteers, fund-raising activities, visits to
donors for the 20-sq.m. houses at Php50,000 each. Once it was
Php40,000 but costs have gone up. Yet, upon computation, the
houses really cost more - all the professional, technical and
management services are given for free! But there is even
more that is not computed into the cost. It's the blood, love,
sweat and tears of these volunteers that make it all possible.
Their goal is to construct houses on any donated property,
preferably two to five hectares, and establish communities,
not just houses, but homes and communities for the poor. The
whole concept is also based on this thought, "Less for
Self, More for Others, Enough for All" Trust in one's
neighbor. Love thy neighbor. Ideally, this trust should
translate to the homeowners living securely and safely,
without them resorting to scavenging or begging, because
viable livelihood programs are available. No need to worry
about their children's education either as President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo promised to build a school for their kids.
All over the country, Gawad Kalinga has hundreds of thousands
of on-call volunteers, including the non-Couples for Christ
members who want to ease the poor's feeling of abandonment by
solving problems through the bayanihan system. Of course,
Gawad Kalinga doesn't carry houses from one site to another,
by lifting them on trucks or over shoulders. Instead, they
build homes, empower communities, educate children, provide
basic health care, rehabilitate those who are in need,
restore dignity and give hope to communities by imparting
love and compassion - by creating friendships and
partnerships - Loving thy neighbor.
So far, Gawad Kalinga has built 6,000 houses on 250 sites (Currently
over 7,853 Homes & over 327 Sites). The houses are built
through the joint efforts of Christians helping Christians,
Muslims and Christians, Bilaans and Christians, with the
Visayans carrying bricks, the Ilocanos shoveling, the
Kapampangans mixing cement, the Tagalogs putting up the
strings on hollow block walls all at the same site. Filipinos
helping Filipinos - People helping people.
It was "People Pawis " at Baseco last Feb. 25 for
Gawad Kalinga members and its volunteer partners and guests.
To celebrate the People Power anniversary, hundreds and
hundreds of volunteers built houses for fire victims at
Baseco. Shoveling sand, building hollow block walls, passing
bags of sand from one long end to the other in relay fashion,
everyone was evidently happy, to the amused smiles of
homeowners who watched us in silence.
Next
stop was the Smoky Mountain tenement. Three 18-meter
apartments with a second floor space of 10 meters were
decorated by Gawad's wonderful women. Hazel Adriano of P.I.I.D.
was very innovative in her interior design concept. She put
cushions on slabs of painted white wood to look like sofas,
which could be transformed into beds at night. She even made
one of them into a double decker. She had to fit six children
with their Mom and Dad – eight in all -- in that
apartment! Throughout the afternoon I walked from building to
building with Angie and Bing and I felt welcomed sincerely as
a new co-worker.
Gawad Kalinga holds no barrier against anyone joining their
group or partnering with their efforts. No jealousies and no
"I'm better than you" attitude. You can feel
genuine concern and affection from them all and those who
tread on their heels, as they go about completely focused on
their mission. No one's too poor that he cannot share to
uplift the dignity of the poor and each of the fellow member.
I already feel accepted by the Gawad Kalinga movement, which
is proving in deeds more than in words that it can build a
church for the poor. This is a group of pure-hearted
volunteers, who sacrifice and give their time, effort, life
and love for the sake of their brothers and sisters.
May 3, 2004, The Philippine Star (Edited/Revised by JBMonteagudo)