Ramon Magsaysay Awards 2006: Community Leadership Citation for Gawad Kalinga
This morning I recieved a text message from Tito Tony Meloto, informing that Gawad Kalinga won the prestigous Ramon Magsaysay Award. I am just proud that I am a part of this radical movement. Radical that means to be different and to be passionate. Passion for change is oftentimes fueled by anger but passion that is more powerful is fueled by love… Love for God & country… Love for God & our poor countrymen. It is also radical by following the path of love and the path of peace. That instead of Ibagsak (down with), can we try Itayo (up with)? Instead of away, puede bang magtulungan (fighting, how about helping)? Instead of unahan, puede bang walang iwanan (being first, how about not leaving anyone behind)? Gawad Kalinga changed my paradigm, and all of these I have learned from them:
Never stop hoping for our country.
Don’t stop caring for our people.
Demand greatness from yourself as a Filipino
Inspire greatness in other Filipinos.
-----taken from the Ramon Magsaysay Awards 2006---------
It is often said that Tony Meloto is the face of Gawad Kalinga. But the movement he spawned is now much bigger than himself. In truth, Gawad Kalinga has thousands of faces. These are faces of every Filipino ethnicity, faith, and social class—of donors at home and abroad who are providing the money and land for new villages; of volunteers across the Philippines who are joining their families, and friends, and schoolmates, and officemates, and fellow church members to build houses and to provide Gawad Kalinga villages with training and services; of executives, lawyers, doctors, architects, and other professionals. These are also the faces of over one hundred thousand grateful beneficiaries.
Today more than eight hundred fifty Gawad Kalinga villages span the Philippines. Alongside those sponsored by Filipinos abroad, such as Norway Village, Swiss Village, and North Carolina Village, there are more than one hundred others sponsored by major corporations. And this is just the beginning. Gawad Kalinga is committed to building seven thousand new communities by the year 2010.
Gawad Kalinga neighborhoods typically contain fifty-to-one-hundred brightly painted homes and are conspicuously tidy and clean. There are flowers and plants and pleasant walkways, plus a school, a livelihood center, and a multipurpose hall. Participating families are mentored by a Couples for Christ caretaker team that organizes volunteers to assist in education, health, and livelihood projects. In many, clinics provide routine medical care. Through a self-governing neighborhood association in each village, residents are becoming stewards of their own stable and vibrant communities.
The objective is transformation. Meloto recently described a mature Gawad Kalinga village as "a beautiful middle-class community. Crime has virtually disappeared. Former street children are now in school. The idle have been motivated to find employment and are now leading productive lives." As for those who contribute to Gawad Kalinga and its mission, they are transformed, too, by their acts of goodwill and the warm camaraderie of bayanihan, "working together."
Now fifty-six, the lanky, self-effacing Meloto says, "I believe in the immense potential of the Filipino." Thinking of people like himself who formerly ignored the poverty around them, he says, "Before, we were part of the problem."
"Now," he adds, smiling, "we are part of the solution."
Never stop hoping for our country.
Don’t stop caring for our people.
Demand greatness from yourself as a Filipino
Inspire greatness in other Filipinos.
-----taken from the Ramon Magsaysay Awards 2006---------
It is often said that Tony Meloto is the face of Gawad Kalinga. But the movement he spawned is now much bigger than himself. In truth, Gawad Kalinga has thousands of faces. These are faces of every Filipino ethnicity, faith, and social class—of donors at home and abroad who are providing the money and land for new villages; of volunteers across the Philippines who are joining their families, and friends, and schoolmates, and officemates, and fellow church members to build houses and to provide Gawad Kalinga villages with training and services; of executives, lawyers, doctors, architects, and other professionals. These are also the faces of over one hundred thousand grateful beneficiaries.
Today more than eight hundred fifty Gawad Kalinga villages span the Philippines. Alongside those sponsored by Filipinos abroad, such as Norway Village, Swiss Village, and North Carolina Village, there are more than one hundred others sponsored by major corporations. And this is just the beginning. Gawad Kalinga is committed to building seven thousand new communities by the year 2010.
Gawad Kalinga neighborhoods typically contain fifty-to-one-hundred brightly painted homes and are conspicuously tidy and clean. There are flowers and plants and pleasant walkways, plus a school, a livelihood center, and a multipurpose hall. Participating families are mentored by a Couples for Christ caretaker team that organizes volunteers to assist in education, health, and livelihood projects. In many, clinics provide routine medical care. Through a self-governing neighborhood association in each village, residents are becoming stewards of their own stable and vibrant communities.
The objective is transformation. Meloto recently described a mature Gawad Kalinga village as "a beautiful middle-class community. Crime has virtually disappeared. Former street children are now in school. The idle have been motivated to find employment and are now leading productive lives." As for those who contribute to Gawad Kalinga and its mission, they are transformed, too, by their acts of goodwill and the warm camaraderie of bayanihan, "working together."
Now fifty-six, the lanky, self-effacing Meloto says, "I believe in the immense potential of the Filipino." Thinking of people like himself who formerly ignored the poverty around them, he says, "Before, we were part of the problem."
"Now," he adds, smiling, "we are part of the solution."
posted by r a i m e n d o z a at 10:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home