GX Conquers GK

Even when the team was still in the UK, we were already oriented with the works of Gawad Kalinga (GK), a tagalog term in the Philippines which means “to give care”. Gawad Kalinga is one of the programmes of Couples for Christ (CFC), a nation building initiative through its different prorgammes such as shelter and site development, child and youth development, health, livelihood, values formation and community development and environment. The jump-start of these programmes is the shelter and site development which aims to build houses for the poor. So even in the UK, spending time with the Gawad Kalinga beneficiaries and taking the challenge of building houses for the Filipino people is the number 1 in the team’s list for possible Community Action Days (CAD) activity for Phase 2 (Philippine Phase).

On July 5, 2008, team 71 visited the community of Barangay Kiwalan, Iligan City to help build houses in the GK village.  One of the beneficiaries said that 24 houses will be built in this village. We started out with digging holes for the pillar or foundation of the house. Some of the volunteers helped in mixing the cement while others lined up to pass on hollow blocks and containers with mixed cement. Despite the intense heat of the sun , the team enjoyed the feeling of being able to do something for others .

The CAD at Gawad Kalinga wouldn’t be complete without spending time with the kids who generously helped us, so the following Saturday, 12th of July, we visited the community again to play with them. In the morning, we continued with helping build the houses. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games. The volunteers taught the kids some energisers and played sack race, open the basket-close the basket amongst others. The kids surprised the team with a well rehearsed dance number. The day ended with the distribution of prizes and balloons.

Truly the Gawad Kalinga CAD was a mixture of fun, hard work, and learning for the team. It was also an avenue for us to reach out to the people in the community and witness the Bayanihan (Heroic) spirit and how Filipinos manage to find joy amidst all the challenges they and their country are facing.

The team would like to give their many THANKS to Kuya Butch who was very kind to organise the activity for us, and to the Couples for Christ Iligan and GK fulltime volunteers for the support and orientation given to us. Thank you very much!!!