Big-hearted ‘homemakers’

You got lost too? So did I. I didn’t find the Gawad Kalinga office until I made my second U-turn on Ortigas Avenue. Finally there was the sign – Couples for Christ. Just behind that two-story building is an area where soft drinks are stacked from floor to ceiling – a donation, I am told. Six volunteers are having their merienda munching on siopao. On luckier days, they would have a dozen pan de sal. A skinny person would have no problem walking through the narrow entrance. But if you should meet a chubby Gawad worker along the way, one of you will have to sit on a utility counter to let the other pass. It is curious how this tiny group can convince tens of thousands on a day’s notice to attend special gatherings or do volunteer work.

Within a secretary’s 2x3-sq.m. space there are 15 full-time workers – married men, middle-aged and young women and bachelors. At the helm of this volunteer group is home office manager Mike Goco, their department head Issa Santos, Maria Montelibano, Eva Monseratt, Dale Lugue, national coordinator Luis Oquinena, and executive director Tony Meloto. They all live by this motto from Psalm 4:13, "I have the strength in everything through Him who empowers me."

"Want to see our computer room?" Boy Montelibano asks me. At that point I’m thinking there must be a room hidden behind with at least a dozen computers for the work they do. But no! There are six computers in a 2x3-meter room. The Smoky Mountain tenement apartments are bigger than this enclosure and yet this group can muster thousands! No, more than a million with their network.

"This is Dylan, he’s our volunteer from England," Tony Meloto tells me as Boy who’s bigger than Tony enters the enclosure and unknowingly drives me to a corner. No more space! Dylan leaves his computer to stand up, smart in his barong tagalog. He’s more Filipino than anyone in the room, even more Filipino than I am. This computer games marketing whiz has contributed 600 houses for our poor who were displaced by war, storms, landslides, neglect, ignorance and lack of funds. Dylan also sold his Jaguar, Porsche and BMW and he donated the earnings from their sales to the Gawad kitty for the fulfillment of the Filipino dream . . . shelter and the dissolution of class barriers. I know, I saw the 60 houses he contributed in Datu Paglas, Maguindanao and 150 at Griño, in Tacurong, Sultan Kudarat. He surely lives by the quote, "I love you for what you are making of me."

Excusing myself to make a call I ask, "Is there an available line?" Not at the moment. I realize there’s only one phone and one extension. They do operate frugally to save what they can for more houses!

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Can we meet now?" Mr. Meloto asks. So the six of us troop into the narrow board room with an oversized dining table. A contribution it had to be. Being the first to walk inside I know I won’t be able to go to the bathroom without crawling under the table or jumping over the laps of those seated with their notes over the table or with their laptops. Every space in this crammed room is taken that a pin wouldn’t know where to fall. A blackboard catches my attention with the schedules of duties, provincial sorties to check out land, drawings of houses to build, dates, names of assigned volunteers, fund-raising activities, visits to donors for the 20-sq.m. houses at P50,000 each. Once it was P40,000 but costs have gone up. Yet upon computation the houses really cost more as all the professional, technical and management services are given for free! It’s the blood, love, sweat and tears of these volunteers that make it all possible. Their goal is to construct houses on any donated property, preferably two to five hectares, and establish communities for the poor. The whole concept is also based on this thought, "Trust your neighbor and share, as we take care of your dignity." Ideally, this trust should translate to the homeowners living securely and safely, without them resorting to begging because livelihood projects are available. No need to worry about their children’s education either as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo promised to build a school for their kids.

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All over the country, the Gawad Kalinga has hundreds of thousands on-call volunteers, including from the non-Couples for Christ members who want to ease the poor’s feeling of abandonment by solving problems through the bayanihan system. Of course, Gawad doesn’t carry houses from one site to another by lifting houses on trucks or over shoulders to set them. Instead, they build homes and manage communities physically and imparting love and livelihood sources.

So far, Gawad Kalinga has built 6,000 houses on 250 sites. The houses are built through the joint efforts of Christians helping Christians, Muslims and Christians, Bilaans and Christians, with the Visayans carrying bricks, the Ilocanos shoveling, the Kapampangans mixing cement, the Tagalogs putting up the strings on hollow block walls all at the same site.

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It was "People Pawis" at Baseco last Feb. 25 for Gawad Kalinga members and its volunteer partners and guests. To celebrate the People Power anniversary, hundreds and hundreds of volunteers built houses for fire victims at Baseco. Shoveling sand, building hollowblock walls, passing sand from one long end to the other in relay fashion, everyone was evidently happy, to the amused smiles of homeowners who watched us in silence.

Next stop was the Smoky Mountain tenement. Three 18-meter apartments with a second floor space of 10 meters were decorated by Gawad’s wonderful women. Hazel Adriano of P.I.I.D. was very innovative in her interior design concept. She put cushions on slabs of painted white wood to look like sofas, which could be transformed into beds at night. She even made one of them into a double deck. The other bed was a Japanese-style dining table for Mang Jaime’s haven that could be placed on one side at night and converted into a bed if a cushion was placed on it. She had to fit six children with their Mom and Dad – eight in all – in that apartment! Throughout the afternoon I walked from building to building with Angie and Bing and I felt welcomed sincerely as a new co-worker.

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Gawad holds no barrier against anyone joining their group. No jealousies and no "I’m better than you" attitude. You can feel genuine concern and affection from the women chiefs and those who tread on their heels as they go about completely focused on their mission. No one’s too poor that he cannot share to uplift the dignity of the poor and of each fellow member. I already feel accepted by the Gawad Kalinga movement, which is proving in deeds more than in words that it can build a church for the poor. This is a group of pure-hearted volunteers who sacrifice and give their time, effort, life and love for the sake of their brothers and sisters.