Magazine: Kerygma Magazine January 2007
Section: Gawad Kalinga
Raising Little Heroes
By Marjorie Duterte
ADULTS ARE ALWAYS SEARCHING for heroes or good role models that their children can follow. But wouldn’t it be great if we could teach kids that they could be heroes themselves far beyond their imagination?
“There really is no age range to become a hero,” says Michelle Siaotong-Llaban, Batang Bayani schools coordinator. She shares the story of an 11-month-old child who painted a house for a poor family while her parents supported her small hands to do the task. At such a tender age, the baby was already learning firsthand what it means to think of the good of others.
“If we teach our children early in life, to give what is difficult to give, their time and talent, then anything else after that becomes easy for them,” says Batang Bayani national coordinator Gary Reyes.
Batang Bayani (Little Heroes) is the Gawad Kalinga movement for kids which seeks to provide opportunities for children ages 12 and below to become heroes for their country. The program, which started in February 2005, gave birth to GK villages for the poor that are funded by children and built by children. There are now eight Batang Bayani villages all over the country that have been raised and funded by kids. Heroism for them had been transformed into concrete terms.
“These children paint, mix cement, dig trenches, plant and form the bayanihan line to transport the materials,” says Llaban. Although supervised by adults and skilled workers, the kids really own their building project, explains Michelle, as the kids do it with joy and enthusiasm while learning values along the way.
To raise funds for these homes, the kids save their money in their Batang Bayani canisters for two to three months. They turn this over to the GK office to purchase the materials for building the homes. Often, the kids will find creative ways to fill their cans, like doing household chores in exchange for the money that their parents will put into their canisters.
Some set aside a portion of their allowances or use their talents to sing, dance, run marathons, and even paint to raise money for their homes. Some Kids for Christ members in Europe and Canada have staged plays and musicals to raise funds for their villages while their counterparts in the Philippines physically build the houses for them.
“They learn early in life about sacrificing for those who are in greater need. When they grow up, they find it easier to give,” Reyes says.
Giving Kids Their Wings
“Children are often excited to help but don’t know how,” says Llaban. Joy Abaquin, directress of the Multiple Intelligence (MI) International school agrees. “Kids have this feeling of ‘I want to help, I want to make a difference, I want to change the world.’ But unless the adults around them create opportunities for them to do that then there is really no means to exercise their zeal to create change,” she says.
The school provided such an opportunity while teaching their grade school children about the Philippine regions and rural life. It was then that eight-year-old Blanca Gecija stumbled on the face of poverty and saw how other kids were not as blessed as they were.
Along with her classmates, Gecija brought her old clothes and toys to hold a rummage sale to raise funds to build a library for the poor community in GK Baseco. “So that poor children can have a library or a reading area like we have and be able to read the books that we read,” they reasoned.
Student Avielle Evangelista added, “Even if they don’t have money like us, I want them to have a good life. They deserve to live well.” With their parents’ support, the kids raised enough money to buy the books, crayons and pens for GK kids.
Starting Them Young
“Unless you systematically bring up children who are caring and raise awareness on different issues, you will have very intelligent children who are very apathetic to what’s going on around them,” says Abaquin. This is why, she explains, many leaders can come from good schools but are unable to use their knowledge for the common good.
Batang Bayani, for its part, wants to help raise children who think not only of themselves but of other people.” We teach values that are not usually taught in school or even at home.
Like the value of heroism and the value of looking at the poor without discrimination and seeing them of equal dignity as themselves,” Llaban says.
The Multiple Intelligence school, which partnered with Batang Bayani says that they want to give their children the opportunity to help and make a difference.
Together with MI, the Batang Bayani buddies was launched last year where a child from the school was given a partner with a kid in a GK community. They write letters to each other just like pen pals with the goal of building good relationships. The kids will help each other learn new skills and share their talents.
“I see a new generation of children. The rich and poor will become the best of friends.
We are now raising children who are free to hope and to dream,” Llaban shares.
Meanwhile, kids in the GK villages now also have the opportunity to share what they have with those who are more blessed in life. “Tutulungan niyang mag-pintura, mag-hukay, at gumawa ng mga bahay ang kanyang partner (They will help their partners in paining, digging and build a house) since they will probably be not skilled in that area,” adds Reyes. Now, even the poor child has the opportunity to help his fellow kids.
And a Child Shall Lead Them…
Some of these young heroes can put adults to shame. One striking example would be Makisig Morales, the Little Big Stars first runner-up, more popularly known as Super Inggo. He donated the money he won during the elimination round to help build a home for the poor. The amazing thing about it was that Makisig also came from a poor family prior to his fame.
Another striking young hero was 11-year-old Carlo Angelo Nuñez who was excited to fill up his Batang Bayani can but unfortunately died in a freak accident before his dream came true. During his wake, a poster on top of his coffin said that donations to Batang Bayani would be appreciated instead of flowers, as he would have wished.
Nine-year-old Sam Villoraman, is another shining example. He returned from Singapore with his family and says he does not want to leave the country until he sees it rebuilt. “Mydream is to be part of GK like my dad. I first learned about K when my family brought me to Baseco. When we got there, I saw a garbage truck dumping a pile of trash on the ground. Then I saw poor kids climbing on the pile of trash looking for food and waste. I thought it was kind of unfair because we have all sorts of food in our house and they only have trash. And that's when I started to help in GK." Sam shares.
Sam, along with many heroic kids are saving money, raising K Batang Bayani villages and building relationships with less fortunate kids. "It is amazing how you can transform a child from thinking only for himself to now thinking about other people and dreaming for other kids," Laban shares. "When a kid starts thinking of other people, that's the very time they become a hero," she says. (K)
Posted with permission from Ms. Krizelle R. Talladen, Officer-in-Charge, Production Department, Shepherd’s Voice Publications, Inc., publisher of Kerygma Magazine.
