GK lights up Tala folk’s lives with kindness

Just when they had resigned themselves to a life of isolation, hardship and lonely death, Gawad Kalinga came along and gave them their own houses, bringing them hope and a new beginning.

Today, a total of 120 leper families have brand new homes from GK after three villages, GK Villages of  Love, Hope and Faith were constructed from 2005 to March of this year.

“We were very happy. It seems that our confidence, dignity and hopes were restored with our new homes. We are thankful to Gawad Kalinga for lighting up our lives with goodness,” says Susan Blas, a former leper.

Susan, a proud owner of a cute GK house, used to stay in a dilapidated, rickety, cramped old dormitory in Tala, Caloocan, with other healed lepers. After being cured of leprosy, patients are transferred from the leprosarium to dormitories inside the Tala compound.

In contrast to her former residence, Susan’s present house is full of light, has a roomy sala furnished with a couch and chairs, a television and stereo, appliances that would have been unthinkable in her old dormitory.

Having her own house has given Susan so much happiness. She says she feels loved and important now, and could endure everything even though her right foot has been amputated.

“I am really very happy and grateful to GK.  Even if I have lost my foot and am having a hard time doing things, I am happy and content with my new home. Life was very different when we still lived in the dormitory. It was miserable, it was just like a ward,” Susan said in an interview.

“With our new homes, we feel we have privacy. We don’t have the capability to build a house. It’s a blessing from God. There’s a feeling of contentment, in spite of our hardships,” Susan says.

The rest of her neighbors, who were her former dorm mates, could not be more thankful for their new homes, a dream that they never thought would be a reality.

The Tala Leprosarium where Susan used to stay was established in 1940 and is one of the eight sanitaria mandated to serve patients with Hansen’s disease or leprosy.

Patients were formerly quarantined but after medical advancements, Tala was opened to non-Hansenite patients in the ‘70s and today, it is home to 35,000 residents.

Currently, it has a hospital, the Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Medical Hospital and Sanitarium (JNRMHS) and other facilities for the ambulatory, disabled and aged leprosy patients.

The number of leprosy patients has gone down over the years and today, there are only 725 patients being treated at the hospital for custodial care.

Susan, like the rest who were healed, was transferred to dormitory style barracks called Quonsets.

Over the years, the dormitories and the facilities suffered neglect.

“It was miserable, especially if you see the dormitories of the males. You can make panggatong (wood fire) out of the interior of the dorm,” says Susan

But Susan and her friends say they tried to keep their dorm clean and cheerful. Susan was in charge of cleanliness and made sure the common toilet was always tidy and the bed sheets smelled fresh.

Glad Tidings

The heirs of Ramon Cojuangco, Antonio Roxas Chua and the Carmelite sisters donated the land and homes of the GK beneficiaries.

GK champion Tony Meloto said it is their mission to bring glad tidings to the lepers in Tala.

“My visits to the Tala GK sites for lepers always overwhelm me. The beautiful homes and gardens for the damned and the abandoned are now always visited by friends and relatives since they regained their self-respect and confidence, because they were loved by volunteers and partners who  overcame fear and bias in order to help them,” Meloto says.

Fr. Paul Fullon, parish priest at Tala since 1993, said the houses really changed the lives of the beneficiaries.

“They used to be squatters, outcasts of society, they have been living in a sad situation. Now they have homes, new hope, new beginning,” Fullon says.

Meloto said GK would continue to prioritize helping and building homes for those who are in need.

“GK prioritizes help to those in greatest need, victims of disaster, conflict, injustice, neglect and abandonment. It goes to dangerous areas like urban slums and rebel spots in the countryside and help restore peace by healing societal wounds. We build GK villages for the forgotten, indigenous Filipinos, the disabled, the deaf, the families of scavengers and street children. Where there is poverty, there are

always people willing to help. There is no absence of caring in this country or abroad,” Meloto says.