5 Dumanjug families get GK houses

CEBU, Philippines – At least five families in Dumanjug have benefited houses from the Gawad- Kalinga (GK) under the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Incorporated (RAFI).

The houses were turned over yesterday by the Pinoy Dutch eXplore (PiDeX) Series 5 delegates to RAFI at JP Garcia GK Village, Barangay Bitoon, Dumanjug.

They were built by the PiDeX program delegates for three days starting last Sunday.

Under the PiDeX program is the Vereniging Haarlemmermeer Cebu (VHC), which sent 14 youth and three adult Dutch leaders to Cebu to volunteer in building the houses.

The five houses were sponsored by VHC, which is a registered association in The Netherlands and has been supporting projects in Cebu City under sister-city relationship of the city and Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands. According to Boy Dela Cerna, GK community organizer in Cebu, the beneficiaries were chosen based on the qualifications.

To be qualified, a family must be poor, not receiving an income of more than P4,000 a month and comes from dangerous places such as river, sea and hills.

Dela Cerna said that each house would cost P 85,000.

The five beneficiaries are the Arnado, Cuevas, Floro, Capriles and Canoy families.

During the turnover, the houses was received by Dominica Chua, RAFI chief operating officer, from VHC board members Stephan Elst and Ruby Langeveld-Cumba, Dela Cerna, GK head Jerome Awit and GK finance officer Montano Go, Jr..

This is the fifth GK project that RAFI organized in cooperation with the VHC, the Cebu City Government and other local organizations, and the PiDeX.

This year, RAFI holds a Dutch and Belgian Youth Exchange, which started last July 13 and will end on August 2.

Joining the Dutch delegates for the first time is a representative from Kortrijk, Belgium, another sister city of Cebu, City.

Activities that the delegates participated were the Discovery Walk that would enable them to learn the Cebuano culture and heritage, and experiential leadership training through the Kool Adventure Camp of RAFI.

A youth integration weekend was also held for inter-cultural learning and collaboration between the delegates and the local youth, specifically the members of RAFI's youth-oriented programs like the Aboitiz Leaders of Excellence (ALEx), which includes the Young Minds on Explore (YMX) and the Young Minds Academy (YMA). (THE FREEMAN)