Sent by Heaven to the Philippines

 I remember that as a child, I used to draw several similar-looking houses. Any deviation in the design was either for a bungalow or a two-storey, or whether the house had a chimney or not. But the roof, the main entrance, and the type of windows (all with open curtains secured on each side) were practically the same. The pictures also showed a long pathway from the street to the main door, a huge garden around, a tall tree beside (often on the right side of the house), two mountains in the distance with the sun rising in between the slopes and birds in formation in the clear blue sky. I guess I drew quite a number of houses because eventually I was sketching a road plan of a village including a trail leading to a stream where children could picnic underneath a huge tree that provided shade, almost a copy of what my friends and I used to have in a playground inside the village where our families once lived. It had a tree house overlooking a narrow stream built especially for us by the father of one of our neighbors.

The drawings were a favourite thing to do during that phase in my childhood. It was sometime in 2004 that my former fascination for these drawings would be awakened while reading a write-up on Dylan Wilk which deeply inspired me. It was through his moving story that I first learned about Gawad Kalinga. With his permission and that of the author, I would like to share an excerpt from a narrative that was published in a book written by Antonio Meloto and launched last year titled Builder of Dreams. Dylan shares his story on pages 176-181, “More Precious than a BMW”, part of which I quote below.

“My journey towards Gawad Kalinga began with my grandmother who was an orphan and refugee from Poland and worked as a housegirl from the age of five… She fled to the UK at the end of World War II. She was also a devout Catholic. Following her example, as a teenager I had a strong faith in God and considered becoming a priest, but eventually started a business in computer games instead. I never lost that faith in God but in building up the business, I spent several years ignoring him. Like many, I stopped practicing my faith and became consumed with the things of the world.”

“After about four years, I started to question the direction life was heading – why were all the rich people I knew still dissatisfied and sometimes even depressed? Even though I was already one of the richest people in the UK of my age, I could not understand why my thirst for money seemed unquenchable. Lying awake one night in the Beverly Hills Hotel, with a Ferrari, a Porsche and several BMWs behind me and with millions of dollars in the bank, I realized I was trapped in a life of pleasure. Whatever I bought would never be enough. My life of pleasure was becoming a life of boredom and emptiness. Pleasure is different from happiness. Pleasure is a fire that needs constant fuelling with new clothes, new cars and vacations. Happiness comes from somewhere else – it comes from relationships and from knowing that you are fulfilling God’s purpose in your life.”

“After this realization, I started thinking about God again and started to pray and ask, “Lord, why am I rich? Why did you bless me like this?” I left the business and traveled the world looking for charities to help. After seeing many, I became disappointed that nobody was able to show me a solution to poverty.”

“In 2002, a Filipina friend came to the UK. She told me she felt guilty about coming because the price of her plane ticket could have built two houses for the poor through GK in the Philippines. I was skeptical. “What kind of house is this that costs the same as a handbag?!” So I went to the Philippines to see GK. … When I arrived, Manila looked like hell to me. How could the only Christian nation in Asia look like this – shanties, street children, beggars everywhere, while others roared past in sleek cars without even noticing?... I spent ten days feeling horrified and trying to get hold of Tony Meloto on the phone. Finally, on the last day of my trip, he showed me around two GK sites. Tears streamed down my face as I looked at these little pieces of heaven in the midst of a city that seemed like hell. I could not understand how this man was so peaceful and positive in a sea of suffering until he started talking to me about his faith and his beautiful vision of what this could become. I finished the tour, went straight to the airport and caught the next plane back to England, having just been through the most life-changing experience of my 28 years.”

“I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat without feeling guilty. I felt sick looking at my brand new BMW that was the equivalent of 80 homes for 400 Filipinos. After two days I sent an email to Tony Meloto telling him I wanted to send $100,000 and asked where to send it. I got another life-changing answer – “Please don’t send your money. If you’re really interested in helping us, please come back and show us how you would like us to use that money.””

“I suddenly remembered an experience I had as a teenager where I had prayed fervently for a family member who was in the grip of alcohol and drugs, “Lord please don’t send her to hell! Put me there instead!” Since that time, God had healed her and it was as if through this memory, he was asking me “See? I took her out of hell as you wanted. Will you now trust me and follow me there instead, as you promised?”

“After selling the BMW, I returned to the Philippines in April 2003, planning to stay for just 6 weeks. The last thing I expected was to fall in love with the Philippines.”

“The more I saw, the more I fell in love with GK, with the Philippines and with Anna Meloto, eldest daughter of Tony and Lyn. We were married in July 2004 and today we have two beautiful daughters, Ariel and Chloe – the special fruit of following where God leads.” (N.B. Dylan and Anna now have a new addition to their growing family – a baby boy named Wolfgang Anthony.)

“My first year in GK was a very heady one. 2003 was the year we launched GK777 – a vision to build 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in 7 years and an articulation of the deepest dreams of all Filipinos that the country can change, rapidly and on a massive scale. It was incredibly audacious, especially because a highly respected group had dared to stake its entire reputation on something so huge that everyone thought was impossible. But it turned out that the simple articulation of the dream was what was needed to inspire people to go beyond what they had ever considered doing before.”

“My role became international partnerships – traveling to the USA, Canada, Australia, Europe, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore and beyond to share the good news that the Philippines was starting to change and that something was working on a huge scale.”

“In the beginning, we were excited when people would give one house. But with the launch of GK777, people started giving entire villages or even several villages.”

“I felt God’s call to stay and raise my children in the Philippines very strongly. The GK villages now look like the promised land. GK is a vision of what this country can become: beautiful, peaceful, the wickedness and vices driven out, a light to the country and to the world. I am offering everything I have – my country, my family, my prosperity, my children – and clinging to God’s promise that He WILL make this country a light to the world and He will bless my children in the land He brought me to. He will show us how to raise our children to be a nation of heroes that will bring prosperity to our people and guide many other nations out of poverty too. I offer this all for the glory of God, our loving Father, who sent me to the Philippines to become a servant to His beloved Filipino people.”

Dylan Wilk is a global GK advocate and a pioneer in social enterprises for poverty reduction and environment protection.

“Builder of Dreams” is a book authored by Tony Meloto, Founder and Chairman of Gawad Kalinga, that tells how the GK movement began and stories about people of faith and action in dreams of transforming the poor into citizens with self-dignity by working together and inspiring others.

The Story Behind House Number 47

Three more dutch-design houses are currently being constructed. A total of 30 are expected to be completed before February 2011. The first four houses that already exist are now occupied by families who were awarded their new residence through Gawad Kalinga’s usual selection process by raffle. Before these families were pre-selected to participate in the raffle, they had to undergo a series of values-formation and community-building activities.

The houses being built in the Air France KLM Village will replicate the façade of delft blue miniature houses that are given to Business Class passengers flying on KLM intercontinental flights. These ceramic house-shaped souvenir items are actually filled with Dutch gin. Since 1952, KLM had been distributing these unique coveted souvenirs. When the airline celebrated its 75th anniversary in 1994, it decided to produce 15 new house designs making it a total of 75. Since then, one new house was designed every year for KLM’s birthday. Currently, there are 90 unique KLM miniature houses representing 90 years of aviation history. Most of the designs are modeled after existing buildings while some are inspired by Dutch architecture.

KLM miniature house number 47

Among the famous miniature pieces is the Anne Frank house, or house number 47. I find this the most interesting because of the story behind it. Many of us who have read about Anne Frank know her as the young Jewish teenager who wrote a journal about her life inside the secret annex of their house in Amsterdam during World War II. Her diary was first published in Dutch in 1947 entitled Het Achterhuis (The Secret Annex) and translated into English as “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl”. The book was popularized in a stage play that premiered in New York in 1956 with the Queen of the Netherlands in attendance. The Diary of Anne Frank later won prestigious awards including the Pulitzer for Theater, the Tony Award, and the New York Critic's Circle Award for Best Play.

Born in Germany in 12th June 1929, Anne Frank later fled the Nazi rule together with her family and moved to Amsterdam where they hoped would be a safe refuge for them. However, as the war spread, Germany attacked the Netherlands and vowed to capture all Jewish Germans. For two years, the Franks and a couple of trusted friends lived together in a secret annex concealed by a movable bookcase until they were discovered by the SS officers in 1944. The family was forcibly separated and Anne was sent back to Germany and transferred to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp.

The Secret Annex

When I first read The Diary of Anne Frank in high school, it brought a chilling revelation about a life of terror the Franks had endured while evading Nazi arrest. Visiting the Anne Frank museum with my sons in 2005 gave me a deeper insight into the kind of life in hiding. As we entered through the bookshelves that inconspicuously opened like a door and revealed their dwelling area, the feeling was a bit tense being in the same place where their family and friends hid as they tried hard to avoid any suspicion by the Nazis. Yet the visit was fulfilling to have relived, within a span of one hour, a piece of the life of this young girl who expressed in writing details of her thoughts, feelings and experiences inside that Secret Annex.

The Anne Frank Museum today

On May 3 this year, the Anne Frank House will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The museum attracts roughly a million visitors each year. The place is easy to reach as it is located in the center of Amsterdam. It takes around 20 minutes to walk from Central Station to the museum. You can find extensive information in the official website of the Anne Frank House. The Online Secret Annexe even allows people to make a virtual visit of the museum.

An Artist's Partnership with a Builder of Dreams

During the past few days, I was thinking of what best to write for this blog. So yesterday I did research on the people who were inspired by Gawad Kalinga, and the lives of these people who have also become an inspiration to others. In my research on the internet, I came across news articles, reports by the Asian Development Bank, some sites dedicated to certain groups’ undertaking with GK and a very interesting blog of a man from New Zealand whose life had been deeply touched during the 20 months he was working as a GK volunteer in the Philippines. It is the blog of Jonny that led me to know more about Joey Velasco, a painter whose art had inspired GK founder, Tony Meloto. His painting titled Hapag ng Pag-Asa ("Table of Hope", his version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper portraying hungry street children and scavengers seated around Jesus) was replicated in a gigantic billboard that was displayed along EDSA, a major highway of Metro Manila. It immediately caught the attention of many, including some who have become desensitized by the trappings of worldly pleasures. People were reflecting on the underlying message of the image, including Tito Tony, who grew curious about the artist because the painting depicted the mission of Gawad Kalinga. Coincidentally – well not really because nothing happens by chance -- Joey was, at the same time, finding a way to connect with Tito Tony to write the foreword of his book. The two were meant to know each other, and later on work together towards achieving a common vision. Soon Joey was invited to Tito Tony’s office which became the cornerstone of a partnership that was already made in heaven even before they thought of each other.

I had a chance to meet Joey Velasco in May last year when Tito Tony took me around the northern part of Metro Manila searching for a possible site where Air France KLM could build Dutch-design houses for the poor. That day coincided with the inauguration of several apartment houses that Joey had built for families of street children. Tito Tony was his guest of honor. Even before I was introduced to his artist friend, Tito Tony had already briefed me a bit about him on our way to the place. After a simple turnover ceremony in the presence of the intended residents, I had a moment with the painter of an art piece I had no knowledge of even when he handed me a copy of his book. In fact, the painting shown in a page in black-and-white stirred little interest at first until a background of its creation was related to me. I learned that the subjects in the painting were real-life street children who Joey had personally met, and that they have been given an opportunity for a better future in life through the mission of GK eversince that providential meeting of painter and builder of dreams. The next time I gave thought about the painting was when I read Jonny’s interview with Joey. Learning about it the second time around, the impact was different. It was the story of Joey’s epiphany and transformation into becoming an artist during the bleakest phase in his life that kept me glued on the internet until the wee hours of this morning. It was when he was creating Hapag ng Pag-Asa that he began to rise from despair. His eventual connection with Tito Tony’s vision for GK gave him a renewed purpose to live through the mastery of his strokes on canvass.

As I read on, I was convinced that I wanted to share their story. I was thinking that I would have to ask Tito Tony how I could meet Joey again for a future event perhaps.

Shortly before starting to write, I visited Tito Tony’s notes on Facebook to read his latest. First on the list was an entry “The Filipino Artist as a Struggling Saint”. The first paragraph confirmed my hunch that it was about Joey. It read: “Yesterday I held the hand of a dear friend who had just lost both kidneys. They were stuck to a malignant tumor as big as a man’s fist that had to be removed. His grip was tight and his eyes were hopeful despite the possibility of a lifetime dialysis to communicate to me a firm resolve to honor a vow we made to each other last year.” Joey’s life is once again threatened by a serious illness. His commitment to help GK fulfill a dream of bringing the Philippines out of the third world by 2024 is likewise at risk. We need Joey to be strong again for him to be able to continue to touch others by his hard-work, his honesty, his paintings and his dedication to a long-term mission of emancipating the people from an impoverished state. He is surrounded by generous people who have been giving spiritual and financial support. However, he still needs a kidney and the medical attention to survive. 

Before reading Tito Tony’s appeal on Facebook, I didn’t think that I would be mentioning about Joey’s life now hanging on a thread. Just this hour, I researched about his other paintings and realized that the profound message of his art are a reflection of his personal story.


Read recent articles about this Filipino artist:
- The journey of Joey Velasco continues
- Joey Velasco’s light and shadow

A Toast for 30 Houses

On 18 February, AIR FRANCE KLM executives from headquarters in Paris travelled 35 kilometers north from Makati City to visit the site of the ongoing GK project in Bagong Silang.  It was the first time for Marnix Fruitema, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific, and Bruno Georgelin, Area Commercial Director for Asia Pacific, to undergo an immersion during a tour of the community led by GK Founder and Chairman himself, Tony Meloto.  Inspired by the vision of Gawad Kalinga and its social impact, Fruitema committed to have 30 houses in the village by 18 February 2011.  Witnessing this announcement with a toast for success were colleagues from the local team headed by Cees Ursem, General Manager for South China Sea, as well as the ambassadors of Air France and KLM and a GK representative.

Plans of involving other AIR FRANCE KLM establishments in the project are brewing.  The company can be a conduit to communicate about Gawad Kalinga in countries where the two airlines operate.  The potential to also involve Filipinos living abroad in GK activities is enormous.  It is estimated that there are approximately a million Filipinos based in Europe, majority of which are living in Italy, Spain and the UK.  The airlines' inflight magazines - KLM Holland Herald and Air France Magazine will also publish articles about GK and its community-building programs with which the company's CSR initiatives in the Philippines are at parallel.

Currently, ground is being prepared for the next four houses to be built.  This time, volunteers from outside GK communities can also participate during the latter phase of construction.  Such was not the case with the initial houses.  Torrential rains during August until October last year inevitably hampered build timelines.  With the rainy season now behind, good weather will allow more volunteer activities at the site.

Inspiring Others

Just last year, KLM celebrated 90 years of inspiration. The airline was officially established on 7 October 1919 as the Royal Dutch Airlines.  Fourteen years later, Air France was founded on exactly the same date.  Seven decades followed when on 5 May 2004, as though destined for one another, the two giant European airline companies merged to form the AIR FRANCE KLM group.

To celebrate its birthday in a meaningful way, AIR FRANCE KLM in the Philippines chose to partner with Gawad Kalinga in building houses for poor Filipino families and give hope through community-building projects. 

The idea began during the last quarter of 2008 when preparations were being made for the year to come to mark a momentous event in KLM's history. By May 2009, a site for the AIR FRANCE KLM-Gawad Kalinga Village was finally determined.  It was going to be in Bagong Silang in Caloocan City.

Bagong Silang is the birthplace of GK.  It was formerly known as "toilet village" in the 80's and early 90's, a lair for criminals in the northern part of Metro Manila, where abandoned families lived in ghetto-like existence.  In 1982, it was initially intended to be a relocation site for some 2,000 poor families who were evicted from their squatter situation in another part of Metro Manila. Over the next couple of years, its population grew and the place was practically left ungoverned by law and resistant to peace and order. Then in 1999, Gawad Kalinga started its first-ever housing project in a small part of Bagong Silang with an ambitious vision of transforming the physical structure of the place, and above all, rehabilitating its residents. Described as the largest slum in Manila with one million dwellers, Bagong Silang's number of transformed-and-reformed inhabitants continues to grow with more corporations and private individuals finding inspiration in giving hope to less fortunate Filipinos.  As of today, more than 2,000 houses have been built by Gawad Kalinga and its partners in this once notorious dumping ground for corpses of crime victims and "salvaged" criminals.  During his 60th birthday celebration held recently at Bagong Silang, Tony Meloto declared that crime rate has dropped significantly with the growing number of families who are already integrated into GK communities.

At the time the site for the AIR FRANCE KLM Village was selected, the long strip of land was lined with a row of shanties where families with an average of six children lived in dismal conditions. 

Some of these houses were later stripped down to give way for the official ground-breaking held on 6 August where the first few units would be put up soon after. 

The plan was to have the first four houses built and ready for occupancy by October in time for KLM's celebration of 90 years of inspiration, together with Air France's 76th anniversary.  However, a series of typhoons that hit the country and the continuous downpour that inundated major cities in high water levels hampered the project's construction timelines. GK had focused its energy in helping thousands of families that were affected by the terrible floods Metro Manila had experienced in 40 years.  Thus, it was only by mid-November when construction finally kicked off.  Before the Christmas holidays, four houses were already half-way completed.

AIR FRANCE KLM has been inviting friends and business partners to join hands in giving a better future to the families of Bagong Silang.  Since its ground-breaking in August last year, generous donors from here and abroad have brought tremendous blessings to the project.  Volunteers with big hearts have also signed up to take part in different phases of the construction.  The project is not all about building decent houses to provide shelter for poor families.  In fact, the plan now includes building a library in the proposed eco-park nearby.  Equally important is that AIR FRANCE KLM shares GK's holistic approach of incorporating soft programs which are relevant in building strong communities, providing practical education and restoring human dignity among its residents, both young children and adults.

AIR FRANCE KLM on Corporate Social Responsibility

In the first Global Summit held in Boston, Massachusetts on 12 June 2009, over 700 friends and partners of Gawad Kalinga converged to share their passion and commitment to rebuild the Philippines from the oppression of poverty. GK founder, Tony Meloto, observed that one particular group that was intensely passionate and strongly committed to this cause was that of the corporate partners. This new direction of corporate social responsibility shows that many companies are starting to prioritize not just profits and progress for themselves, but for all.

The AIR FRANCE KLM group shares this direction of corporate social responsibility and is committed to ensure that its profitability grows hand in hand with the promotion of social values and environmental quality. In the Philippines, the company has chosen to work together with GK and participate in its vision of transforming poverty-stricken areas through community-building projects.


Together with GK and friends, AIR FRANCE KLM has committed itself to help build homes and give shelter to families in Bagong Silang, Caloocan City. The houses have been designed to look like Dutch houses, similar to KLM’s delft blue house souvenirs that are given to every Business Class passenger on board its intercontinental flights.

Each unit measures 20 square metres with one bedroom, one toilet and bath, a laundry area, a kitchen sink, an unpartitioned space for dining and living area, and a provision for loft. Environmental considerations have been integrated in the design.

People of Bagong Silang