Day 5 : Going Home

Bye Marinduque


The Future Looks Bright


So it was the perfect time to go. Short but sweet would be the best phrase to describe the experience. We all decided to go back to Manila today Friday, instead of the planned Saturday. We upfronted the schedule of Friday to Thursday and met with the Dean of the Marinduque School of Fisheries in the morning to discuss the potential livelihood programs for GK Gasan and for the school to support the village's fishpond plans. The dean was so accommodating and the GK Careteaker team and the school will continue the talks.

Ruby, whose insect bite has now 90% dissipated, needs to see a real specialist. She continued to be in high spirits.

You will see it in this pic :)

Ruby was thankful for all the manangs who took care of her day in and day out, she said in her dedication to the village - "my birthday was amazing because of all your smiles. They touched my heart and you made a difference in my life. You brought importance and happiness in my life."

Sa mga bata, your energy was everlasting and I will never forget, I love you all so much and I hope to be back soon." Always, Ruby.


Eliza was as thankful as Ruby and was candid in saying that
"it has been a week that I will never forget and I hope I will be able to come back next year. Mahal kita lahat!"

With that our stay here comes to an end.


The manangs were waiting outside to see us off the pier and I'm sure just like last year, they will all be waiting for our next trip excited and waiting to welcome us again with their smiles, their potong dance, the kids energies, the manong's hardwork and of course Marinduque's beauty.

Here was our last pic - Junnie and the angels. A copycat of Charlie's Angels. Enjoy and til next year!

God will make a way for more youth to come and experience it. Please pray for us!

Day 4 : A Special Day and Treat for Everyone

GKYB 2008 Highlights and Out takes (on Video)
Press Play to Watch the Movie


Youth Build 2008 Version
Marinduque, Philippines

GK Youth Build - "Building Communities. Building the Youth
- and now Building Relationships"

Today was a special day. Via the video above, you'll be witness to a surprise party the GK Village Caretaker team hatched for our birthday girl - Ruby. (Click the movie above and see for yourself.)

The birthday party didn't end during breakfast, after finishing our landscaping of the model house, we continued doing jewelries with the manangs and played with the kids and prepared for the bigger party that night.

We had lugaw party with 60 kids and dancing and swimming and a lot of fun! It was a memorable birthday for Ruby, for the manangs and most especially for the kids.

Looking back at the GK Youth Build program, we were successful in many aspects that Gawad Kalinga has been known for - that is of building relationships and nurturing this with the GK beneficiaries. There is no one-time dole out nor plain outreach. There is a cemented relationship that can last for a long time.

Day 4's activities did a lot of relationship building and a lot of eating and dancing too.

Here is a slideshow of the lugaw party. Click here for the slideshow

Day 3 : Jewelry Making, Cockroaches and Paper Folding

Youth Build 2008 Version
Marinduque, Philippines

"Jewelry takes people's minds off your wrinkles." ~Sonja Henie - Olympian Figure Skating Champ

After the great make over of the Model House, we had enough time to plan our next afternoon's sessions with the Manangs and the kids.

Last year, Therese started with the basics of Jewelry design and vowed to bring back more beads using her influence and charisma to come up with a give-back project called "A Bag of Beads". She collected extra supply of beads from her classmates and had it shipped to Marinduque including pliers and magnifying lenses.

Our job is to follow through her legacy and review the manangs of their learned skills from last year. We were not disappointed. They were able to churn out as much jewelry from the supply given and were ready to go primetime with their finished products that they planned to sell in the bayan for Php 15 each. I had a grand plan of getting them financed through orders from Canada. The quality and workmanship is good and of course it's all for a good cause.

Let's see.

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We had a scare in the middle of the afternoon as Ruby had swollen arms and was breaking out from her right temple, nose and lips. Apparently she was bitten by a cockroach which prompted me to bring her to a doctor, fearing that it could be more than what we think it was. I asked her if she wanted to go home the next day so that she can get treated by a real city doctor. She agreed to stay if she will not get chills or feverish. She was given meds by the doctor, and we have to move out from our newly painted house to a resort across the street.

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Ruby's will to continue and her tenacity to finish the build sked and spend as much time with the kids was admirable. She inspired us to do more that afternoon and provide more quality time with the kids. Eliza volunteered to share her paper folding skills, giving each kid, numbering to almost 40, a paper crane each.

Tired after all morning of painting, fulfilled to see that the manangs can create masterpieces from their own hands, anxious with what bit Ruby, and happy to be around the kids til late in the night, all in one day.

It ended with an afternoon dip and night swimming. A well deserved treat for all the hardwork, and to take away the anxiety and trauma of a cockroach bite :(


Day 3 slideshow is here