GK BAYANI Challenge 2009
Note: Come April every year, a GK Bayani challenge is held in various parts of the Philippines. The event is a gathering of heroes represented by civic groups, corporate partners, GK communities, various schools and government officials. This year's challenge was held simulatenously in Malaybalay, Wao and Kitaotao, in Mindanao. In a show of solidarity and brotherly love, people from all walks of life, gather in these events, in former war zones of Mindanao, immersing themselves in the true spirit of bayanihan in rebuilding the motherland. Next year's event is slotted to be in Sulu at the southern tip of the Philippines. Is it safe? Is it a bigger challenge? Columnist, GK hero and advocate, Jose Ma. Montelibano shares his thoughts on this upcoming event.
Boy Montelibano Sulu - Only For The Brave
by Jose Ma. Montelibano
April 2009 will be a special moment in the history of the Philippines. The GK Bayani Challenge will be in Sulu and Zamboanga, possibly also in Basilan. It is a dramatic decision, a bold initiative to rebuild relationships and rekindle the friendship of Muslims and Christians. It is as Christian as it is patriotic, definitely beyond the usual, and hopefully enough of a counterforce to the pattern of conflict that has dominated this strategic area.
Gawad Kalinga is, perhaps, the only mechanism today that can bring interaction of Muslims and Christians in substantial numbers to engage in a specifc activity - building communities and opening new windows of opportunities. This fact has been brought to our attention by the simultaneous requests for GK to establish its program in Sulu, requests made by the governor, the mayors (who are all Muslims) and the military hierarchy in Sulu. The very positive response of the community in the first GK village being built in Patikul is also affirmation that GK, even with its face as a movement led by Christians, is a powerful way to reconnect.
There are many who fear going to Sulu, and instead of overcoming that fear by understanding how conflict in one area can be cause for bombings of malls in Metro Manila, or buildings in New York, stoke the fear in others. That is a dis-service to the nation, to the invitation of heroism, to the call for holiness.
For those who do not realize what Gawad Kalinga has been doing, it will be good for them to be informed that Gawad Kalinga is present in the most delicate of areas, the most influenced by rebels from the Left and the most violent in recent Philippine history - like Camp Abubakar. To bring back history even earlier, GK began in the most dangerous slums and continues to be there. Yet, the leadership of GK has not been reckless all these years and those who have died while in mission did so from illness, not bravado.
It is natural to be afraid. It is also a virtue to overcome fear and turn it into bravery. Sulu - Only for the Brave. Why not? Salvation is never for the weak of heart.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
New Bayani Challenge Team Members!
God is Good!!! I cant say it enough. Rossana and I from the Oregon branch attended the first post Highway of Hope GK1mB Assembly in Seattle this past weekend, we wanted to show support for our Brothers and Sisters in Washington. Tita Mayin, Bro Butch and the Washington team put on a great event! We had the GK team from Tri Cities drive all the way across Washington to attend and show support as well! Tita Mayin asked for me to provide a sharing and I was excited at the opportunity to present the NW Regional Challenge to all that attended. Tita Mayin asked all those who had gathered "Who wants to attend the Challenge?" after my presentation, and I was happy beyond words when we got a commitment from two participants that they wanted to join the GK Bayani Challeng in Sulu!!! Wow our little team is growing already! Jonathan and I had spoke before and after the event, and the thought is why have just a NW Regional team go to Sulu, but a national team?! So this is going mean that all of our areas are going to have to "Scale Up" for the Lord's work! Our first Oregon Assembly is this weekend, so I will be praying that we can grow our team even larger. My wife and I are attending the Couples for Christ North American Conference next month and I would like to present the Bayani Challenge there with Jonathan God willing, next thing you know we will have a national army of brave soldiers attending the build!
Keep the fire lit!
Anthony & Jennifer
Oregon GKom
Keep the fire lit!
Anthony & Jennifer
Oregon GKom
Monday, June 9, 2008
NW Region sending team to GK Bayani Challenge 2009!
Great start Jonathan!
My name is Anthony and my asawa Jenn and I are excited beyond words to participate in next years GK Bayani Challenge in Sulu! My wife and I visited the Philippines earlier this year and were very blessed to visit three GK villages in Cagayan De Oro. This was my first visit to the PI and it was only my wife's second visit since moving to the US with her family when she was 12 years old, with the last visit being 8 long years ago. My wife and I have been graced by the Lord to have been able to support GK as donors before this trip, but nothing transforms your life like actually visiting a village and seeing the fruit of the Lord's work! Now we are not only donors, we are now Builders! While we were visiting the villages we both promised each other that our next trip to the Philippines would be to participate in a GK build. But I was struck with a bug, and that was to step it up a notch and build in the Muslim/Christian areas. It was a hope and prayer of mine to participate in the Highway of Peace after seeing one of the GK videos. For me, a white American Catholic raised from a middle class family, in my mind there was no better people to help and make the biggest impact that the poorest of the poor living in these Christian/Muslim areas. These people are not only poor but have been victims of the savages of war. But what an example they are making by working together to build the lasting peace that the Government, the UN, the Army and no one else is capable of making! GK is God's blueprint on how to get people everywhere to come together as one and remove the divisions of the Filipino people! This was the hope and prayer in my heart, and when my wife and I attended the GK Builder's summit recently in San Diego and we watched the video announcing the GK Bayani Challenge next April in Sulu, it felt as though my prayers were answered! My mind immiediatly went to work on how can we make this a reality. It didnt take long as my wife and I were tapped to actually participate in the Builder's summit in the form of making a pledge for our region the NW Region...so I thought of the Bayani Challenge in Sulu and talked it over with my wife and after clearning the idea with Bro. Butch and Sis. Mayin (our loving Regional Directors!) I made the pledge on stage in front of everyone that we will be sending a team from the NW Region to the Bayani Challenge build. We weren't sure how we were going to do it yet, but we both felt confident that the Lord will make it happen! After the pledge was when we were introduced to Jonathan. As soon as we got back to Oregon from the summit, my mind was still going overtime on how to make our pledge a reality. While my wife and I were driving around an idea hit me, why not invite the local Muslim community in the Portland area to participate in helping their fellow muslims in the Philippines?! Our Oregon Branch Partnership Coordinator Rossana Holder has a contact within the Muslim community and we will be meeting with the head of one of the local Mosques to present GK! God willing we will have some local Muslims in the mix of Filipinos, Phil-Am students, Puti Catholics etc. making up our team to go to Sulu!
If you are reading this and live in the NW Region of the US, we want YOU! But as the banner suggests it is Only For The Brave!
Are your brave enough to help the poorest of the poor?!
See you in Sulu!
Anthony & Jennifer
GK-Oregon GKom Coordinators
My name is Anthony and my asawa Jenn and I are excited beyond words to participate in next years GK Bayani Challenge in Sulu! My wife and I visited the Philippines earlier this year and were very blessed to visit three GK villages in Cagayan De Oro. This was my first visit to the PI and it was only my wife's second visit since moving to the US with her family when she was 12 years old, with the last visit being 8 long years ago. My wife and I have been graced by the Lord to have been able to support GK as donors before this trip, but nothing transforms your life like actually visiting a village and seeing the fruit of the Lord's work! Now we are not only donors, we are now Builders! While we were visiting the villages we both promised each other that our next trip to the Philippines would be to participate in a GK build. But I was struck with a bug, and that was to step it up a notch and build in the Muslim/Christian areas. It was a hope and prayer of mine to participate in the Highway of Peace after seeing one of the GK videos. For me, a white American Catholic raised from a middle class family, in my mind there was no better people to help and make the biggest impact that the poorest of the poor living in these Christian/Muslim areas. These people are not only poor but have been victims of the savages of war. But what an example they are making by working together to build the lasting peace that the Government, the UN, the Army and no one else is capable of making! GK is God's blueprint on how to get people everywhere to come together as one and remove the divisions of the Filipino people! This was the hope and prayer in my heart, and when my wife and I attended the GK Builder's summit recently in San Diego and we watched the video announcing the GK Bayani Challenge next April in Sulu, it felt as though my prayers were answered! My mind immiediatly went to work on how can we make this a reality. It didnt take long as my wife and I were tapped to actually participate in the Builder's summit in the form of making a pledge for our region the NW Region...so I thought of the Bayani Challenge in Sulu and talked it over with my wife and after clearning the idea with Bro. Butch and Sis. Mayin (our loving Regional Directors!) I made the pledge on stage in front of everyone that we will be sending a team from the NW Region to the Bayani Challenge build. We weren't sure how we were going to do it yet, but we both felt confident that the Lord will make it happen! After the pledge was when we were introduced to Jonathan. As soon as we got back to Oregon from the summit, my mind was still going overtime on how to make our pledge a reality. While my wife and I were driving around an idea hit me, why not invite the local Muslim community in the Portland area to participate in helping their fellow muslims in the Philippines?! Our Oregon Branch Partnership Coordinator Rossana Holder has a contact within the Muslim community and we will be meeting with the head of one of the local Mosques to present GK! God willing we will have some local Muslims in the mix of Filipinos, Phil-Am students, Puti Catholics etc. making up our team to go to Sulu!
If you are reading this and live in the NW Region of the US, we want YOU! But as the banner suggests it is Only For The Brave!
Are your brave enough to help the poorest of the poor?!
See you in Sulu!
Anthony & Jennifer
GK-Oregon GKom Coordinators
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Welcome to GK Bayani Challenge 2009!!!
Gawad Kalinga has once again pushed the limits of the unthinkable as it embraces the radical undertaking of Service to God, Country, and the Poor. As if turning 1,700 slums into 1,700 GK Village Communities was not enough, GK has set an example of creating peace among enemies. By inspiring groups who were once rivals to work together to raise the Philippines into the first world Nation it is meant to be, GK has found a way to create peace where there was once war. We started with neighbors working together in villages to build each others' homes. It moved to college fraternities putting down their personal feuds and working together to raise villages. It seemingly topped off once wealthy filipinos, foreigners, and government officials began putting down their own agendas and began working to raise hundreds of GK Villages. But God was not done. Through the work of GK, God is working to create peace between Muslims and Christians in the Southern Islands of the Philippines.
In April 2009, GK will be hosting their Bayani Challenge on the Island of Sulu as it continues to break cultural norms. As GK will bring hundreds of teams to Sulu for 5 days of home building, community building, peace building, and bayani building, GK is showing that peace can made once people let go of their desire to change people and focus on their desire to serve people. In this service, people will change.
I invite you here to share your thoughts, questions, stories, excitement as we begin to form teams from the US to return to the Philippines for the GK Bayani Challenge 2009. Our Goal is for one team of 5 people from every state to show that we are united in our push for peace in this world. Join me now as begin this quest to serve the least of our brethren. God bless!
In April 2009, GK will be hosting their Bayani Challenge on the Island of Sulu as it continues to break cultural norms. As GK will bring hundreds of teams to Sulu for 5 days of home building, community building, peace building, and bayani building, GK is showing that peace can made once people let go of their desire to change people and focus on their desire to serve people. In this service, people will change.
I invite you here to share your thoughts, questions, stories, excitement as we begin to form teams from the US to return to the Philippines for the GK Bayani Challenge 2009. Our Goal is for one team of 5 people from every state to show that we are united in our push for peace in this world. Join me now as begin this quest to serve the least of our brethren. God bless!
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