US migrant embraces Gawad Kalinga mission

Like many Filipinos who go abroad for greener pastures, 35-year-old Joel Coronel went to the United States to get rich and support his family.

For 14 years, Coronel did odd jobs in America until he landed a high paying position in one of the companies in Silicon Valley and started earning good money. Through sheer hard work, Coronel was able to save and buy some properties in the US.

But a comfortable life did not give Coronel complete happiness. In 2004, while on a brief vacation in the Philippines for a Singles for Christ (SFC) seminar, he felt the call to give back to his kababayans, particularly poor and homeless Filipinos.

Coronel, who is not even in the league of big-time philanthropists, sold his house in the States to help build a village of 50 homes for the poor in Baseco, Tondo. Then he borrowed $50,000 to build more homes this time, for the indigent in Leyte.

In helping out the poor, Coronel believes that "every dollar he shares with his struggling countrymen meant transformed lives."

And he found the perfect vehicle in Gawad Kalinga (GK), a non-government organization that provides a holistic approach to poverty.

GK offers a concrete plan to rebuild the Philippines, aiming to construct 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years — or GK777.

Each GK village, composed of 30 to 100 poorest of the poor families, is created by volunteer caretakers and the poor themselves through the bayanihan spirit. Recipients of GK housing grants build each other’s homes and a peaceful community free of crime and vices, where neighbors know and care for one another.

Today, there are 1.000 GK villages all over the country.

Coronel said GK appealed to him because it builds on the hope that the underprivileged are capable of helping themselves if given the chance.  

"I saw the sufferings of the poor that very much needs urgent attention. I realized that no amount of love and outward expressions of it is so small to effect a very large and lasting transformation in the lives of the poor, especially of the children who would be the inevitable future of our nation. Thus, it became quite easy for me to understand that an investment to the GK work will generate exponential and lifetime returns not just to my countrymen and nation but also to my fulfillment and joy of my soul, than to invest in luxurious and temporary sources of pleasures," Coronel said in an interview.

"I remembered the movie ‘Schindler’s List,’ and realized that every dollar I share with my struggling countrymen meant transformed lives thus, a very rewarding financial management proposition to myself. So, selling a home to build many homes for many families became much easier for me to do after my epiphanies," he recalled.

‘Schindler’s List’ is a 1993 movie about a German businessman, Oskar Schindler, who saved Jews working in his factory from the Nazi death camps during the holocaust.

Joel admitted he hesitated at first to sell his most prized house for GK, but a couple more interactions with its people and residents of Leyte have erased any doubt in his mind about the organization.

"The kindness of the people in Leyte and the way GK put me back in touch with my roots gave me all the reason to have the faith I need to believe in the GK vision and what it meant to a way of living," Coronel said.

He could not also forget the generosity and hospitality of the people and children living in GK Tambulilid in Ormoc.

"Despite their very humble living conditions, they are capable of being kind, generous, productive and heroic especially if I will treat them with genuine kindness and care," Coronel said.

"After being shocked by the story of my host about their community’s tragic experience during the 1991 flashflood where around 5,000 people perished in 35 seconds, and then be able to serve us a corned beef breakfast — which one of our retreat mates has gifted them, and then offered to lend a shirt to our companion and laundry this — I realized the struggling people’s potential for greatness especially when they’re shown with genuine kindness and care," he pointed out.

Today, Coronel said the GK work is a mission he will embrace forever.

"From my experience, the benefits are about profound joy, fulfilling life, great integrity and inner peace, while a rebuilt nation and great national pride are just a few of the bonuses. Let us all help one another — wherever we are in the world — and rebuild our Filipino nation. As an old saying goes, ‘Kung hindi ngayon, kalian? Kung hind ako, sino? (If not now, when? If not I, who?),’" he said.

For Coronel, "social and spiritual greatness and heroism is guaranteed to lead to a path of genuine love, profound joy, and lasting peace."

"That heroes of today do not anymore need to die for a cause but to vibrantly live to potentially see their cause come to its fruition," he added.

Coronel plans to help build more GK villages in the future.

In fact, a village is being completed in Aroroy, Masbate and another in Ligao, Albay through the GK Alliance organization. This is why, he said, he’s trying to save whichever way he can.

"For example, I started to hold SFC and GK Alliance social functions in our home instead in restaurants, as well as cooking and brewing coffee more at home than eating outside," he explained.

Every year, Coronel also makes it a point to come home to the Philippines to oversee the Baseco, Masbate and Albay villages.

And his family and friends support his GK advocacy work.

"In fact, we even formed a group called GK Alliance of Northern California to help campaign and educate about the GK work as well as unite the Filipino-American community for a nation building cause," Coronel said.

Coronel is currently finishing his MS in computer science degree at the California State University East Bay during the day and hopes to finish his course this summer. — Patricia Esteves