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Saturday, September 17, 2005
Gawad Kalinga to build houses in Dumanjug today for 9th Cebu project
The ninth Gawad Kalinga (GK) Village in Cebu will be launched today in Bitoon, Dumanjug.
Three houses will be built by the religious organization Couples for Christ (CFC) and volunteers in the area, and will be known as JP Garcia Foundation Inc. GK Village.
The village has an area of 10,000 square meters and can accommodate 80 to 100 houses.
Poorest
GK and CFC started the housing project in 2003. The aim is to build 70,000 houses in 7,000 villages in seven years.
The houses are given to the poorest residents in the community.
In Cebu, provincial area director Vic Abarquez said GK aims to build at least 200 villages. Fifteen sites have been proposed, with nine already developed and over 220 houses built.
The first GK village in Cebu, the Sinulog Village in Eversly, Jagobiao, Mandaue City already has 87 houses.
The project started from a belief that “poverty breeds crime, violence, despair and hopelessness.” But organizers believe there is more to fighting poverty than building houses.
Tanny Go, GK resource generation head, said the CFC is also concerned about livelihood, education and health of the beneficiaries.
The GK educational program is divided into three groups: the Sibol for children aged three to six years; Sagip (sagipin ang galing, isip at pangarap) for seven to 13 years old; and Siga (serving in God’s army) for 14 years old and above.
The youth are given non-formal, values-oriented education.
Hope
In a luncheon meeting of GK leaders yesterday, the group said it hopes to gather more sponsorship and donations for the beneficiaries’ education.
As of yesterday, the group was able to collect over P200,000 in cash and in kind for educational programs in every GK village.
Benefit package for the sibol program will cost P7,200 per child, with 261 students from seven GK villages; the Sagip program which has 218 kids from five villages costs P5,860 per student; while the Siga program has 110 youths in five GK sites for P6,700 per student.
Livelihood projects include micro-finance, sinamay-making and probiotics.
Government agencies like the TESDA, the Department of Sciences and Technology, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Trade and Industry train the beneficiaries.
Dental and feeding services constitute GK’s health services. (JGA)
(September 17, 2005 issue)
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