There is nothing greater than the heart of a volunteer.
It started with a simple thought. I was in one of my tranquil soliloquies when this question suddenly sprouted in my head: What are you planning to do on your 25th birthday? I thought about it for weeks. See, it has always been my tradition to give myself something good, expensive and tangible during my birthday ever since I started working. It’s equivalent to a tap on the shoulder for a job well done.
The answer came to me one day and in a weirdest possible way.
I was driving home from work when I stopped at an intersection to allow pedestrians to cross. When I looked to my right, Tito Bebot Sarmiento, our former CFC Provincial Area Director, greeted me with a smile. Being the SFC that I am, I forced myself out of my motorcycle to talk to him for a while. I wasn’t in a hurry anyway. Our conversation was short. He asked me if I had been to Bantayan Island in Cebu. He told me about the white sandy beaches. He further told me that he will be going there to participate in a weeklong Gawad Kalinga activity. He invited me to join him. He must have known that I love the sea.
I am familiar with Gawad Kalinga (or so I thought); I’ve participated in many works in our local GK sites, mostly during Sundays, here in Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur. And in those works, all I got in return were backpain, a bucketload of sweat, sore muscles, some scratches, and a severely-tanned complexion. Back then, my perception to GK was as shallow as a puddle of water on the side of a road. I worked for GK because I was an SFC; I worked for GK because our Chapter Head told me to do so; I worked for GK because I enjoyed being with my household.
It took me quite a while to convince myself to join the GK build in Bantayan because I knew that I was in for some hard labor. But I joined anyway. I was more excited to see the Island itself; the GK Build was an excuse for me. Maybe this was the birthday gift that I wanted. I imagined myself walking down the beach, taking photographs of the sea, and bragging about it later on when I return. Yes, I think I was being selfish. But now I prefer to look to it as God working in His mysterious ways.
April 4, 2011, Bantayan Island. The first thing I noticed upon arriving at the dock was the tarpaulin that greeted us. Written in clear letters, it said, “WELCOME, MGA BAYANI!” It gave me a slight chill in my spine because I knew that I wasn’t physically prepared for the tasks in store for us. But I was optimistic, nonetheless. The GK Team of Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur, was composed of only ten members, most of which are SFC members, and some have already gone to other GK builds prior to this one.
We set our tents at an elementary school nearest to the venue. Yes, we lived in tents for the entire duration. The ironic part of it all is that the empty classroom meant for us to occupy was beside our tents, and we only used it to hang our clothes. We were practically roughing it! It is only in GK where I get to sleep with a shovel beside me.
I was amazed because I thought I’d be with people who are used to hard labor (construction workers, plumbers, masons, etc). Instead, I found myself surrounded by thousands of volunteers who, I think, most of them don’t even know what a broom looks like. I’m not kidding. Most of the volunteers were teenagers coming from private schools in the Luzon area, specifically, Manila. There were students from Ateneo and UP, to name a few. There were Filipinos families from abroad who returned to the Philippines just to build. There were even foreign delegates. And they all looked battle-ready. This gave me a smile.
It was in this moment when I was reminded of what Tito Bebot Sarmiento told me days before we travelled. ALLOW GAWAD KALINGA MAKE AN IMPACT INTO YOUR LIFE. LET IT SINK INTO YOUR HEART. LEARN TO KNOW WHY WE DO THIS AT OUR OWN EXPENSE. I’ll never forget those words. Never.
I was even more astonished when I learned that a Mayor from Sulu and the Governor of Compostela Valley are also present, along with their band of volunteers. It was my first encounter of politicians who were not afraid to get dirty, who were not surrounded by heavily armed men, who weren’t dressed in Barong Tagalog, politicians who were literally in the level of the people. This gave me a bigger smile. There is still hope in the Philippines, after all.
Our team was assigned at the GK Village in Mojon. Due to our lack in number, we weren’t asked to build a house. Our first assignment was to dig the ground to make a pathway for water to flow freely when it rained. Along with us was the GK Team from UP Los Banos and GK Team Bacolod City.
As we began to dig the ground, kneeling on the dirt, sweating furiously, time flew so fast. There was activity everywhere. Everybody was doing their own part. No task was too big because it was a sure guarantee that somebody would always be there to help you carry a bucket of water, or a can of paint, or a large rock. I can see that all of them were shedding the same amount of sweat that I was shedding. In that moment I began to look at them in a different way. They were heroes. And the heroism went on for the next five days.
...TO BE CONTINUED...
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