#164 - #165 - RFA Interviews:
Mark Lawrence Cruz and Micelim Geloso -
Rising Out Of Poverty With The Social Entrepreneurial Shepherd of Gawad Kalinga (GK) (October 2017)
Ms Micelim Geloso, known to her friends as Mice, is an 18 year old on a mission, with the help of Mark Lawrence Cruz, Head of the Gawad Kalinga (GK) School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED), to tell the world about her success story in rising from the slums on the edge of Manila and how she is helping others achieve the same. Ms Geloso is from the slum areas in Bulacan, sitting just outside the northern edge of greater Metro Manila.
She and her friends have grown up in the crime-ridden slums all their lives, subject to the miseries of everyday life where opportunities and education are mostly just a fairytale dream. Many of their friends have died due to poverty, street drugs and/or violence.
Ms Mice Geloso is a Manila miracle story. Only a few short years ago as a child she was provided with an opportunity to change her life and she did so. She studied both English and French. She is now amazingly travelling around the world and talking in fluent English about her experience, vision and social entrepreneurship in front of distinguished audiences.
She and her friends have grown up in the crime-ridden slums all their lives, subject to the miseries of everyday life where opportunities and education are mostly just a fairytale dream. Many of their friends have died due to poverty, street drugs and/or violence.
Ms Mice Geloso is a Manila miracle story. Only a few short years ago as a child she was provided with an opportunity to change her life and she did so. She studied both English and French. She is now amazingly travelling around the world and talking in fluent English about her experience, vision and social entrepreneurship in front of distinguished audiences.
Ms Geloso recently gave a speech at the prestigious Commonwealth Club, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) on behalf of Gawad Kalinga (GK - which means to "Give Care").
GK is the biggest Philippine-owned social entrepreneurship organisation within the Philippines and one of the biggest in Southeast Asia. GK is famous for its social housing projects which provide low cost housing to the poor and helps build strong and resilient communities. GK is also currently working with the Philippine government to help their Filipino Islamic countrymen and women (kababayans) to rebuild Marawi city affected by the recent fighting which included foreign Islamic State Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremists who entered the Philippines. The Philippines is approximately 80% of the Catholic faith, 13% other Christian faiths, 6% Islam, and 1% other belief. GK has proven that it views Filipinos of all religions as equally deserving of their professional poverty alleviation assistance. |
GK's motto is "Land for the Landless, Home for the Homeless, Food for the Hungry."
The GK website says:
"Gawad Kalinga transforms slums into peaceful and productive communities. It works with 2,000 communities in the Philippines and other nations where poverty exists, including Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea. Engaging all sectors of society, mobilizing them to work together to end poverty, the organization is building a global army of volunteers on the ground and online, working with schools, corporations and other organized institutions to mainstream a culture of caring and sharing." [ http://www.gk1world.com/home ] |
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GK is also helping the youth within the poorest areas of the Philippines rise out of their poverty by teaching them social entrepreneurial skills and offering them world-class education. Ms Geloso is a great example of the GK success story.
In Canberra, next to Australia's Capital Hill, Ms Geloso also talked about the details of the products which they are producing and selling. Ms Geloso is definitely rich and strong in spirit. She has a hunger to achieve and empower herself, her family, her friends, and her community members so they can all experience better lives.
GK is noble in its efforts to provide such opportunities to the poorest of the poor. Mark Lawrence Cruz, Head of the GK SEED talked with Ms Geloso in Canberra about the SEED initiative.
In Canberra, next to Australia's Capital Hill, Ms Geloso also talked about the details of the products which they are producing and selling. Ms Geloso is definitely rich and strong in spirit. She has a hunger to achieve and empower herself, her family, her friends, and her community members so they can all experience better lives.
GK is noble in its efforts to provide such opportunities to the poorest of the poor. Mark Lawrence Cruz, Head of the GK SEED talked with Ms Geloso in Canberra about the SEED initiative.
Mr Cruz, just like Ms Geloso, provided a very heartfelt and articulate presentation in regard to the great achievement of the GK SEED initiative.
SEED is a good acronym for what GK is hoping to achieve. Through the initiative, skill and leadership of people such as Mr Cruz, GK is seeding entrepreneurial opportunity for those living in squalor to help them and their community become financially successful. |
They can then live a fuller life of enhanced opportunities which will enable them to escape the hopelessness of slum living whilst gaining greater self-confidence, self-respect and pride for their efforts.
Leaders such as Mr Cruz could be described as Squalor Storm Shepherds, lifting their flock out of the squalid drudgery and the dangers of poverty which is the foundation of most of the serious social ills within the Philippines as well as many other countries. GK have helped lift many hundreds of thousands of people out of the poverty trap. |
The voices of these community members can now be heard. Ms Geloso is just one of their great success stories of a Manila mouse that roared with grace for her voice to be heard thanks to the opportunities provided by the good shepherds of GK.
[Note:
In the many years RFA has been aware of the activities of GK, it has had the pleasure of interviewing the GK founder and Chairman Tony Meloto on multiple occasions, as well as the GK Executive Director Luis Oquiñena. Kudos to both Mr Meloto and Mr Oquiñena and the entire GK poverty alleviation enterprise as they continue their very successful poverty alleviation efforts across the Philippines and Southeast Asia.] -------------------------------------------------- Photo: Founder and Chairman of GK, Tony Meloto, pictured last month (1st September 2017) with French President Emmanuel Macron at Le Palais de L'Élysée (Elysée Palace -the official residence of French Presidents since 1848). |