Alex Eduque: Template for a happy life

The journey to a more meaningful life is not always easy. But once the journey begins, the adventure becomes a template for a happy life.

Alexandra “Alex” Eduque at 15 walked the path not commonly traveled by girls her age. Instead of becoming interested in the arts or sports, she was glued to philanthropic endeavors. And since then, Alex, now 23, has made charity work her life. Her advocacy: building homes for the homeless. Her reward: happiness beyond compare.

Alex has been a part of the Habitat for Humanity Philippines (HFHP) for eight years now. Habitat for Humanity is an international non-profit organization that addresses the problem of homelessness of the people living in marginalized communities. Its battle cry is to “build homes and rebuild lives.”

With the devastation wrought by typhoon Yolanda in the Visayas region recently, Alex informs us that HFHP has immediately deployed its teams to many affected areas to assess the damage and to give immediate relief care. She says her organization aims to raise enough funds to provide 30,000 families with shelter repair kits (each costing P15,000).

“I don’t think words exist to describe how saddening and devastating the recent calamity was. But there is no question that the Filipino people are strong, resilient and determined to overcome whatever challenges come our way. We can definitely all work together to bring hope and help the typhoon victims stand up once again. Babangon ang Pilipinas,” says the winsome lady whose everyday existence is primed at helping others.

When she was 20 years old, Alex founded the HFHP Youth Council with fellow volunteers Kaye Yang, Isabel Martel Francisco, Henny Zobel de Ayala and her younger sister Michaela Eduque.

In the past four years alone, Alex, daughter of Mandy Eduque and Chuchu Abad Santos Madrigal-Eduque, has raised more than P100 million to build 500 houses. She has also mobilized over 8,000 volunteers around the Philippines for the response program of HFHP, which has helped close to 30,000 families across the nation.

For her tremendous contributions to HFHP, Alex was recently honored with two coveted awards — Most Outstanding Volunteer award and IFC Choice award — at the 2013 Global Awards for Fundraising in Amsterdam. She is the first Filipino and the youngest winner of any award given by Resource Alliance, the lead organizer of the awarding ceremony, considered as the Oscars equivalent of socially-related and fundraising events.

Planting the advocacy seed

Her baptism of sorts to helping the poor was fired up when she joined her teachers and classmates at the International School Manila for a community work in Cavite. “While I was a first year high school student, I went on a field trip and got assigned to Habitat for Humanity in Amadeo, Cavite for a week. I saw the transformation of that community through house building throughout that week,” she says. And to this day she remembers the beautiful feeling of satisfaction she got after accomplishing her job in Cavite.

She didn’t only immerse herself in community work. She was also hooked on helping those who needed to be helped. In the summer of 2005, she found herself calling Habitat for Humanity Philippines, volunteering to help again. She was assigned to the fire-ravaged Baseco compound in Tondo, Manila where she stayed for three months helping build houses for the residents. Baseco was superlatively different from her house in Forbes Park but Alex found her fulfillment in being able to help others.

When she turned 18, she had an extraordinary debut. She wanted to involve her friends in her advocacy work. “So, instead of gifts, I asked them to donate a small something for the Habitat,” says Alex. Her debut party generated money enough to build 18 houses for Habitat in Bicol. Each house was pegged at P90,000.

“I wanted to show my friends that everyone can help out and it’s the little things that you do that actually make the difference in the end,” adds Alex, who recently obtained a degree in Political Science and Urban Studies at Columbia University with a GWA of 4.0, which is the equivalent of 1.0 in UP.

Even while she was studying at Columbia University, Alex would always be on Skype, talking to people to raise funds for her advocacy.

Because her generous and humanitarian nature is always at a fever pitch, Alex put up in November last year the Move.org Foundation Inc. Move, or Molding Optimism and Values through Education, is involved in educating children ages two to six in Habitat communities.

 â€œAlongside educating the kids, we’re also educating the families with them. That’s the trademark that sets us apart. We educate the families through livelihood, through values formation,” Alex says of the roles of Move in Habitat communities.

Where the seeds of philanthropy came from

“I grew up in a family where philanthropy is really a part of us. For instance, my late grandmother Chito Madrigal (Collantes), she had her own foundation (Consuelo Chito Madrigal Foundation Inc.). Growing up, I lived next door to her, I saw her every day helping other people in a consistent basis. And because of that, I guess, I was born with that special place in my heart for philanthropic endeavors,” reminisces Alex, adding that she had celebrated many birthdays in orphanages.

Another childhood memory she remembers fondly is hearing Masses in churches in poor areas “because my grandfather (Antonio Madrigal) naman would sometimes build churches.”

Her mother Chuchu, according to Alex, always reminds her and her sister Michaela, 20, that with privilege comes responsibility. “So if you’re blessed, share your blessings also.”

“My mom sometimes jokes around to say that ‘My daughter is giving away money and she’s not earning anything’,” she smiles.

From her dad Mandy, Alex learned that it’s the small things that matter in life. “My dad is super quiet kasi. He’s really the pillar of our family. My mom and dad showed me and my sister that it’s really the small things that make a difference in people’s lives.”

Did her parents spoil her?

“Not naman a lot but like they would bring us to the mall on weekends. My mom, for us to get a Barbie doll or a toy, we would have to get a 90 or above in our tests. And even at that, we only get P100. So we really have to save till we can actually get it. We weren’t allowed to watch TV on weekdays, it was only on weekends,” Alex says. It’s a different ball game, though, if you ask her if she was ever spoiled by her grandparents.

Alex, no doubt, is at her happiest when she raises funds for her advocacy projects. “I decided to immerse myself in this (advocacy) ever since I was 15. That sacrificed a bit of my growing up years. But having said that, I still go out and party. I still do things normal people do,” Alex says, bursting into giggles.

At the end of the day, when Alex looks at her contentment quotient, she can always say that she has achieved total happiness because she knows her journey takes her to a more meaningful path.

And, for Alex Eduque, there’s no turning back.

(To donate to Habitat for Humanity Philippines, you may log on

to www.give2habitat.org/philippines/ReBuildPhilippines.)

(For your new beginnings, e-mail me at bumbaki@yahoo.com.

I’m also on Twitter @bum_tenorio. Have a blessed Sunday.)