Karen Davila & World Vision: Bless the Children

For all intents and purposes, this is a Christmas story. Our objective was to present a heartwarming tale of how the season brings out the best in people.

Karen Davila was the perfect subject: Charming, accommodating and quite apologetic that this interview had to adjust to her unpredictable and demanding job. Within the three days of re-scheduling, the working journalist had flown to typhoon-devastated Bicol and rushed to a one-one-one with El Shaddai leader Mike Vellarde about the Cha-cha issue. All that happened alongside anchoring TV Patrol (with Julius Babao and Ted Failon) on week nights and hosting a daily afternoon radio show, Pasada Sais Trente, with Vic de Leon Lima on dzMM.

Still gushing over the exciting soundbytes of the controversial religious leader, Karen doesn’t waste a single moment. The interview runs alongside the sudden arrival and just-as-sudden departure of husband David Jude Sta. Ana, who is the director of ABS-CBN news gathering and futures. Having a healthy lunch of stuffed mushrooms and salad (she is on a no-carb diet) while fielding questions, Karen also manages to inform DJ of an important El Shaddai event requiring coverage. If you weren’t keeping up, you would’ve missed the quick question to her co-parent if their four-year-old son David Joshua was already safely home from school.

That she finds time to breathe is a wonder. But, if you saw the two strategically-located billboards on EDSA from 2003 to 2005, you’d know Karen does more than just that. Smiling at you from high up was a relaxed Karen locked in an embrace with a World Vision sponsor child.

Her volunteer endorsement of the organization’s mission has truly changed the lives of many Filipino children through education. In fact, the billboards were solely credited for P285,000 in sponsorship donations which sent 50 kids to school. Karen herself appealed first to a billboard owner and later to famed photographer Francis Abraham to waive their usual fees.

World Vision is so close to her heart that dedicating this article to its cause increases her enthusiasm. Without much prodding, she describes her life-changing trip to Kenya in 2005 and volunteers to write a diary on that experience. Gently, as if careful not hurt our feelings, she clarifies that the stories she shares about World Vision are not necessarily happy Christmas stories.

Obviously, advocacy has been blended into her frenzied life as a woman, broadcast journalist and devoted wife and mother. Karen believes giving should not only be seasonal. "I’ve always been mission oriented," she insists. "My mantra is: ‘What is the purpose of my life?’ I was asking myself this question even before the book A Purpose Driven Life was written. As soon as I joined media, I became convinced that my existence had to have meaning. I cannot just float on earth. I need to count either in someone’s life or in God’s eyes. My personal belief is that you cannot fake advocacy. If you fake it, people will see through you because you’re inconsistent.Advocacy is something you live."

In 2003, around the time she made the big leap to ABS-CBN from her original TV network, Karen began sponsoring children through World Vision. She was already involved with Habitat for Humanity but felt a yearning to help the most marginalized members of society–the children. The vision of World Vision, first introduced to her by good friend Joanne Zapanta-Andrada, instantly impressed her. An informal meeting between her and World Vision representatives lasted three hours. Finally convinced, Karen embraced its mission.

What appealed to her most was the focus on education. "I’ve always talked about my own childhood in my testimonies. When my family was going through financial hardships when I was growing up, my mother told me: ‘Karen, I may not give you land or anything you can materially inherit but, if I let you finish your education, you can have anything and everything you want.’ It was true. If I didn’t finish college, I don’t know where I would be today. I honestly believe that the reason why I fulfilled my dreams and lived my passions was really because I was able to complete my education. As a journalist, I travel to many provinces and I realize that the only difference between me and other people is not that I’m smarter or I’m better but that I had the opportunity to find my best self. One basic way of doing that is to go to school."

That was, simply, how things began.

Karen became a child sponsor. For as little as P450 per month, each of her five adopted children was provided with a complete package that made education possible. The meager amount not only financed the child’s tuition and school supplies but also covered food and nutrition as well as skills training and value formation for the parents. What truly inspired Karen was the annual progress report that included a recent photo of the child and a handwritten note explaining how one’s donation was truly changing someone’s life.

"Imagine, for the price of a pre-paid cellular phone card, you can send a child to school? I found that very powerful," she professes.

So powerful that Karen once abandoned her chauffer-driven car in phenomenal EDSA traffic, took an MRT and hitchhiked her way to a World Vision function. Commitment to her advocacy, she further clarifies, means putting her money where her mouth is.

She strictly believes that an advocate should be willing to spend for her cause. A Christian, Karen admits that most of her tithes go to Habitat for Humanity and World Vision. That’s not to say her religion required her to do so. She is quick to say that, had she been Catholic, she would be doing the same. "How much do I give?" she repeats what must have sounded like a nosey question. "I don’t really set a specific amount. I give what I can give plus a little more. I feel that there is no price to generosity. But I feel that I can be much more generous. Alam mo yung ginagawa ni Angelina Jolie as a UN spokesperson? She gives money to that cause. It’s not for show. You can’t pretend to talk about something you believe in and not take out something from your pocket."

This advocate has been so effective that she has inspired many others to help. Her constant appeals, in person and via TV and radio, have resulted to millions in donations. Dabs Liban, World Vision direct marketing manager, swears that Karen’s familiar face has made World Vision Philippines a record holder when it comes to the effectiveness of their mall booths.

While only an average of two children are sponsored through World Vision booths in other countries, the booths in the country have averaged from four to seven sponsored kids a day. "Our staff can already tell how many of the sponsors have heard and seen Karen talk about World Vision. They don’t even ask questions. They seem very decided about sponsoring a child," he says.

"Karen is literally heaven sent to World Vision," agrees Louie Baclagon, World Vision Philippines marketing firector. "When she volunteered her services around three years ago, we never expected the impact she would make on our fundraising efforts. As professional fundraisers, we keep track of the reasons why our donors give and our statistics clearly show how much Karen has helped–at least 500 people have directly sponsored poor Filipino children in our projects right after her short appeals in her DZMM program.  Indirectly, it should be 10 times more because her endorsement is the clincher for many people.  She has also given as much as she has opened doors of opportunities for us.  Measured in pesos, her help amounts to millions."

For Karen, the best indication of her success as an endorser was gaining the support of Kris Aquino. The broadcaster was touched when she got an unexpected call from the talk show host who felt World Vision was a worthy cause. Quietly, Kris has been sponsoring 50 kids and generously sharing her blessings.

"Do people give more during Christmas?" asks Karen. "Actually, people are more generous when they’re touched. There is what you call donor fatigue. They begin to get tired of having to give money. But they become generous when they feel that the money they give will really make a difference."

The gift of giving has also been shared by companies which have chosen to sponsor children in lieu of traditional Christmas gifts.

"A privileged family dropped by the booth. You could tell they were well off. They even had three uniformed yayas with them. The little boy grabbed a pamphlet and they left right away," Dabs relates. "To my surprise, they came back to sponsor several children for their friends for whom they had been shopping around Glorietta for two hours in search of Christmas gifts. Now many other people do the same. Although we appreciate corporate sponsorships, we value private sponsorships even more since these change not only the life of the child but also the donor."

That was how things began for World Vision. Its founder, Bob Pierce, was doing evangelical work in China in the 1940s when he was touched by the plight of a young girl. By pledging a monthly stipend of a few dollars, Pierce began a mission to help countless poor children around the world. World Vision Philippines was formed in 1957. Since then, it has helped 200,000 Filipino children go to school.

Aware that there are other organizations doing the same kind of work, Karen emphasizes: "The administrative cost of World Vision as an NGO is very, very low. Out of every one peso that you give, 92 centavos goes directly to the child. Other NGOs spend about 30% of their funds on salaries and operational costs. What I’m proud of about World Vision is that a donation of P450 pesos goes to a child’s school supplies, uniform, breakfast, health insurance, community support and parental values training. It’s a complete setup of making sure that the child is supplied with food, values and education."

Karen was recently named the country’s first Ambassador of Goodwill for World Vision. The title is well deserved. She has become one of the staunchest child advocates in media. Of late, the broadcaster has portrayed various children’s issues during her monthly reports on ABS-CBN’s The Correspondents. The most commendable was Batang Preso which exposed the indignities suffered by child prisoners usually charged with petty crimes. The investigative report won the 2005 UNICEF Child Rights Award, over 50 entries from 20 countries in the Asia Pacific. Batang Preso was also a finalist in the 2006 Asian Television Awards.

Did I ever think my advocacy would be this big? I feel it should be even bigger. I feel that I’m doing something important. But I feel that it can be much, much, much more for children. I wish I had the popularity of Kris Aquino," she confesses without embarrassment. "That would make all the difference. That’s why I really appreciate her helping us at World Vision. It’s not about self promotion–that’s the key eh. You let the work itself expand."

The "work" has become so intertwined that little separates the career from the advocacy. Whenever Karen goes to disaster-stricken areas, she is fully aware that being a journalist does not mean being heartless.

"My training has taught me to be there in the moment but not to get carried away," she explains. "I’m able to separate myself even if I am deeply moved by death, especially when there are children involved. I have to keep myself in check otherwise I won’t be able to do my job. But what happens is that, seeing and experiencing everything during a coverage makes me a better person. I feel that journalists, in essence, see the world in a much bigger way. It has taught me to have more compassion for others and also not to stick to my own narrow views of how life should be. You become less frivolous when you cover calamities because you become very grateful. You appreciate the most basic of necessities like having clothes to wear and food to eat. Most of the people in Bicol have nothing except what they’re wearing."

Meanwhile, there is a side of her few have seen–many seem to forget that this journalist is someone’s mother. However, she is the first to admit that she is an unconventional mother.

"I’m not motherly per se but I’m a mother. I want to be the best mother I can be. But, as a mother, I feel I’m more of a builder and a nurturer. That’s because I work full time. I’m very career driven so I try to manage my time. We live near ABS-CBN and our son studies in a school near the area. None of us are too far away unless we’re on coverage. What I’ve done is to read to David all the time. Our time together is spent reading. David is a fantastic reader. At two, he already knew his alphabet. He started reading at three. Now, at four, he reads at a grade one level. Being a mother has changed me completely. Yes, I want to have another child because I feel that David needs a brother or a sister. But DJ and I are still planning when would be the perfect time for that."

Karen knows better than to rush things. After all, things have fallen into place by simply being open to the unlikely. Towards the end of the interview, when she finally succumbs to a decadent piece of chocolate cake, she reveals that becoming a broadcaster was never her dream.

"I actually wanted to be a fashion designer. My teachers at the UP College of Mass Communication told me that I had potential. I was encouraged to watch Che-Che Lazaro and Loren Legarda. Nagulat ako. When I became a journalist, I then saw the importance and privilege of being a journalist. How you can tell the world about itself through your eyes. I felt it was a purpose in itself. It’s a calling. That’s what being a journalist is to me. I love what I do. I feel that I have more to learn and more to do. And I’ve taken it a step further by being an advocate."