A very special birthday build

MANILA, Philippines - A couple months back, I attended my friend, Natasha Zobel de Ayala’s recognition rites for raising over P1M together with two other friends for the benefit of Habitat for Humanity Philippines’ Youth Council. That inspired me to think that no matter how young we are, it shouldn’t stop us from finding ways to help and make a difference. Later on, I got to join a build with her and realized how fun it actually is to bond with your friends and at the same time, know that you’re helping others. Since a lot of our birthdays involve ways to give back, too, I wanted Habitat for Humanity to be our next project.

I believe joining builds are great, but I also believe that it would be more fun to do it with your family and friends. My little way of creating awareness is sharing the experience to the people closest to you. That’s why I opted to celebrate my birthday by asking my parents to organize a build with our family members and closest friends and to also give them a chance to participate in building a house for others and make a difference.

That’s me (center) with my triathlon friends

I wanted my friends to experience what it was like to build houses and know that it’s for other people that they’re doing it for. And hopefully for them to do something like this too. Some of my friends have never even heard of anything like it. They actually thought I was hosting a house party and they came really dressed then when they got to the site, asked: “Which one’s your house?” It just shows how many young people are still so unaware of certain events that could actually be a starting point for them to take part in society for helping others.

Mounting a build is no joking matter. Oh, boy, this was a major production! Like planning any other event, you had to have a list of people you wanted to invite, the date you wanted to build, plus keeping in mind that this is a rainy season and an outdoor activity, there was a lot of prayer hoping it wouldn’t rain! Hahahaha. We held on to our faith and declared it would be sunny. My brother, Donny, said he’d wear his shades because he knows the sun will come out. Would you believe that it rained all throughout the time we left the house? And when we got to the site in Pasig, the rain stopped and it remained overcast till we left! The weather was perfect! We knew God was with us all throughout the planning and execution of the build.

In such a case, one realizes the need for partnering with a solid team. Coordinating closely with the fabulous Habitat for Humanity Youth team such as Koleen Palaganas, Gladys Santos-Ledina, Claire Algarme, Anna Herrera and engineer Kit Acerda made everything such a breeze. Thanks, guys!

My ‘Supreme’ six cousins joining in the build

What’s awesome about doing something for a cause is that people want to support you. We are eternally grateful to many people who decided to support this event. Yes! Wilcon Builders provided gloves, paintbrushes and electrical supplies, Boysen Paints provided all the environmentally safe paint we used throughout the build, Buon Giorno provided our lunch, Gatorade and Light Water kept us hydrated, Nestlé ice cream cooled us down, and Goldilocks provided our snacks and my birthday cupcakes!

It was nice seeing my friends really put in so much effort with painting, shoveling and sifting cement! Even little children were helpful in the site. It also felt like an accomplishment when my friends told me how much fun it was to build houses knowing that it was for a good cause. Where else would you see people like Ronnie Ricketts so engrossed in painting stair railings before rushing to his next OMB raid? He and his whole family came despite the threat of a typhoon and together mingled with the house partners as they enthusiastically painted away even if it was time for snack break.

Can you imagine Donita Rose dancing while doing impromptu emceeing to help organize the briefing and set up of the build? She and husband Eric Villarama came with their super helpful son, JP and three other teens in tow for a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

My cousins, whom we call the Supreme Six and the Tiaras surprised me with song numbers. Former neighbors, family friends, former classmates, childhood friends, triathlon buddies, my godparents, yayas, new acquaintances and even my mom’s water birth attendant and her family came. Everyone who knew about the build was excited to take part in it! How cool is that?!

The night before, it was raining cats and dogs, and so was that morning! I had to keep my fingers crossed and pray to the max that I’d have a sunny celebration. A lot of my friends also got lost on the way there, I got loads of calls from them saying they were lost, or where to go from where they were from. A few of them didn’t read the invitation quite clearly and came in over dressed thinking it was a house party (Hahahaha!) and others got sick from the weather, but thankfully we had more people than we expected despite the many cancellations. There was more than enough food and drinks to feed and hydrate everyone at the site.

I learned that planning something like this isn’t always easy. It was probably one of the first times where I helped mom out. Now I know how stressed she gets. (Hahahaha!) I didn’t think it was that hard before. I’m just so glad she didn’t give birth from all the concerns she had to face. As she often told me, she wanted to focus on me (the most awesome first born ever, hahahaha!) before the limelight is given to my soon-to-be-born-baby sister Solana.

For a lot of my friends, this would be the first time they joined a build. I got a lot of feedback, and majority of them can’t wait for the next ones to come!

I got to meet some of the beneficiaries as they mingled with us and helped us out and got to take pictures with us, and the celebrities of course! I got to see other children playing in the dump side. I wish I could do back flips as good as they did. It made me feel so blessed.

Sometimes we take our blessings for granted. They’re happy with what they have, so why can’t we?

I realized that you don’t need all the glitz and glam in a party to have fun. The most important thing is that you have the people closest to you to celebrate with. I’d definitely encourage others to join Habitat for Humanity’s future builds, and see how fun it is to spend time with your loved ones and make a difference in your own little way.