A GK summer via ‘Bayani Challenge’

Seventeen-year-old Jennifer Pangilinan will trade a Boracay vacation for gritty, back-breaking construction work for Gawad Kalinga (GK) in Bicol this April.

Jennifer and her friends will join the GK1MB (1 million bayani) challenge to build houses for the typhoon-ravaged towns of Albay, Camarines Sur, Marinduque and Sorsogon.   

Mari Oquinena, GK1MB project director, said they want to show the victims of typhoon "Reming" in Bicol and other affected provinces that rebuilding their homes is a continuing commitment, five months after the devastation left thousands homeless and destitute.

"We want to tell the homeless victims in these four provinces that we have not forgotten them, that there is still a need for a massive response. When a volunteer goes there and make his presence felt, we can send a big message that we are here for them. We might not be able to provide the solution but being there will make them realize we care for them even after the typhoon is over. We can relay the message that we are here and they are important to us," Oquinena said.

Typhoon Reming killed more than 1,000 people and displaced thousands when its incessant rains sent heaps of mud and water crashing from Mayon Volcano.

For this year’s GK1MB challenge, Oquinena said participants must form a team of 15 members and spend five days either building houses or simply spending time in GK communities in Albay, Camarines Sur, Marinduque and Sorsogon. Corporations are also encouraged to join.

The invitation is open to whoever wants to join, there is no age nor height requirement. "Participants are required to give four hours of their time per month, whether they want to build the houses or spend time with the residents," Oquinena said.

 There is a registration fee of P65,000 per team but the fee for students is waived, Oquinena added. He also said they have been receiving a lot of requests for participation and to date, some 400 youth teams have signed up, excluding corporations.

Oquinena said the GK1MB, which was launched in February last year, aims to increase and mobilize its volunteers and human resources for GK communities. Not surprisingly, he said, a lot of participants have signed up for the challenge.

He reiterated his appeal for Filipinos to participate in the GK1MB challenge.

"We are inviting everyone to go join the GK1MB challenge for five days. I know there are millions and millions of bayanis out there who would like to help our countrymen in need. I would like to urge everyone to rekindle and fan the flames of being a GK hero in their hearts," Oquinena said.

 Translated, "Gawad Kalinga" means to "give care." GK is a community- building project in the Philippines that seeks a holistic approach to poverty. It provides a concrete plan for rebuilding the Philippines, aiming to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years (GK777). Each GK village, composed of 30-100 poorest of the poor families, is built by volunteer caretakers and the poor beneficiaries themselves through the bayanihan spirit. The recipients of GK housing grants build each other’s homes and a peaceful community free of crime and vices, where neighbors know and care for one another. Funding the building the houses is a concerted effort among the government, corporations, civic and other religious groups and Filipinos from all over the world.

 Jennifer said she doesn’t regret her decision to spend time in Bicol to build the houses for the poor, stressing that joining the GK1MB is far more important to her than lying on the beach.

 " I know that it would only take a smile from a stranger’s face, from my fellow Pinoys in Bicol, to know that it is worth more than any amount of time sun-tanning on a beach," Jennifer said.