GK1World gathers ‘real life heroes’

Gawad Kalinga (GK) yesterday gathered “real life” heroes – thousands of volunteers, partners, workers from the government, business, and civic sectors – in one big expo, the “GK1World: One Hope. One Vision. One Global Army against Poverty” in celebration of its fourth anniversary.

The volunteers, workers and partners, young and old, have been working for the last four years to fulfill GK’s vision.

“We can bring the country out of poverty if we build together. The expo is a gathering of Filipinos who believe in the greatness of the Filipino spirit. We are seeing a convergence of collective genius of the Filipinos in building a country we can all be proud of. God did not make a mistake when He made us Filipinos. We can build first class Filipinos and harness the potential of a Filipino in his country with the help of Filipinos abroad, “ GK champion Antonio Meloto said at the expo grounds in SM Mall of Asia yesterday.

“GK1World is a convergence of the young and old, rich and poor, Christians and Muslims, Filipinos here and abroad who celebrate the goal of a country free from poverty and hunger. This is about solidarity and what we can build together where there is sharing, when we think more of others and less of ourselves,” he added.

Today, over one thousand communities and more than 24,000 GK homes have been built around the country.

Meloto said they continue to build the science and technology of the Gawad Kalinga through the Builders Institute. A lot of foreigners have also joined the Builders Core to closely realize GK’s 777 vision.

GK1World Expo also highlighted the issues and solutions concerning the environment. Blessed with an abundance of natural resources and an incredibly rich marine biodiversity, the rare Pearl of the Orient - the Philippines is considered a piece of paradise on earth. GK communities in coastal towns and mountain areas are taught how to be good stewards of their environment so that the coming generations may also be blessed with our rich heritage.

Meloto said the expo focuses on the productivity component of GK sites, on how to make the communities more sustainable and self-sufficient.

“Because GK started the first phase, land for the landless, home for the homeless, we move to the sustainability stage,” he said.

One of those helping GK make its livelihood become more sustainable are the high school students who participated in the Teenpreneur challenge, the country’s first inter-high school entrepreneurship contest where the students’ ideas and inputs are used to conceptualize and improve the business performance of livelihood projects for GK communities.

In last night’s finals, San Beda high school students bagged the Most Improved Product with their eco-friendly detergent bar while Manila Waldorf School won the Best Selling Product for their beautifully designed fish lamps made out of capiz shells.

Meloto is proud of the achievement and feats of the high school participants, not to mention their dedication to sell and improve their products for the love of GK communities.

“ I would like to congratulate the students who participated in the Teenpreneur challenge, the ESA and mentors, all the different schools, the teenpreneur project is starting to inspire the greatness in young Filipinos, their potential for greatness, creativity and pioneering spirit. But what is very important is the connectivity of the rich and the poor. The rich connecting to the poor, it’s about solidarity and sharing with them their talents, resources and love, “ Meloto said.

Joel Santos, co-founder of ESA and chairperson of the Teenpreneur Challenge said the challenge is about believing entrepreneurship can be taught to students and when taught, the students can deliver.

“You can see that if you teach the students they will deliver. You see a lot of innovative projects like the eco-friendly detergent bar or the water lily sandals or the lanterns and beautiful decorative products made out of capiz shells they made into stylish havaianas. It goes to show that entrepreneurship can be taught. One month of training and you have those results. The model really works, we have high school students who are trained by successful entrepreneurs and the ESA and the venue which is GK and in the future, you will have the making of successful socially responsible entrepreneurs,” Santos said.

At last night’s event, three GK communities were awarded as Most Inspiring Entrepreneurial Communities for 2007 for embodying the spirit of entrepreneurship.

These are Freedom GK Village, GK Sunshineville and GK Selecta Village.

Freedomville GK Village in Sta. Rosa, Laguna is distinguished for its candle making business which promoted camaraderie among residents while making quality candles.

The Las Piñas-based GK Sunshineville, on the other hand, makes baskets using water lilies and has now become one of the lucrative GK sites.

The GK Selecta Village converted a half-hectare idle property into an integrated urban farm where vegetables, herbs and orchids, among others are grown.

“We feel proud that Selecta Village was chosen as one of the most inspiring entrepreneurial communities, our hope is to see other GK communities and beneficiaries win the distinction. I think they chose the GK Selecta Village because the urban setting is not designed for farming, seeing the model of Selecta, we can inspire other urban settings to do the same. We make the community sustainable and provide food for the hungry,” Henry Yaco of GK Selecta Village said.