another Leyte post (magsawa kayo! haha!)

i don't care if you're fed up with me talking about GK again... eh sa gusto ko eh! walang paks! hahaha! Ü anyway, it's an article from their website: http://www.gawadkalinga.org/ ... special mention kami eh! hihihi! Ü
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GK 1MB BAYANI CHALLENGE
by: GK News Bureau
5/15/2006

Brgy. Magbagakay, St. Bernard. In the sweltering heat of summer, a new kind of adventure gave birth to heroes coming to the rescue of the victims of Southern Leyte landslide. 24 teams from various corporations, schools, Gawad Kalinga communities and provinces came together to compete for the GK 1MB Bayani Challenge: A Race to Re-build Southern Leyte. Some of the participants where Team SMART-Gameplan, Team Petron, Team HSBC, Team Mirant, Team Meralco, Team Coke-Tacloban, Team GK Concepcion Village, Team DPWH who hauled hollow blocks, corrugated G.I. sheets and plastered walls under unbearably hot and humid conditions relieved only by occasional light showers and a water hose provided by the local fire department.

But what started out as 24 individual teams working independently of each other soon became a collective effort as teams started helping one another in true "Bayanihan" style. White collared workers from HSBC were given a hand by the more skilled team of GK Concepcion. When interviewed by a Gameplan producer, a sports-adventure show of Studio 23, why they weren't just focusing on completing their house, a member of Team Concepcion explained, "Of course we need to help them because our houses comprise one duplex and if our house turns out beautiful and theirs does not then even our house will look like a squatter shanty!"

And so that was the trend as Team Petron helped Ateneo, HSBC helped DPWH with the landscaping, Ateneo lent a hand to Team Samar Bayanis and the lines between the other teams blurred as the everyone came together driven by the same goal. It was no longer a race to re-build one house but a race to re-build Southern Leyte .

At the end of the day, people were tired, they lacked sleep and were missing the comforts of a proper bath and toilet but there was a higher calling that made these little things unremarkable. Team Survivors from Liloan, the victims of the flood in 1991, finished first after the 3 day build but in truth everyone emerged from the experience as true champions --- because they sacrificed their comforts, offered their physical pains and even gave up personal glory so that the poor of Southern Leyte, who live in disaster like conditions everyday of their lives, will have quality of life and a better future ahead of them.

© Copyright 2003 Gawad Kalinga
For inquiries call: tel. (632)-7270682 to 87 Local 47 fax (632)-7231603
E-mail.info@gawadkalinga.org

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*and above is our picture with our neighbors and heroes, Team GK Concepcion (aka Buwayang Bato, aka Team Lacoste)! go Tito Dolphy!! Ü maganda ang harap ng bahay namin dahil sa inyo! Ü