by Tina Arceo-Dumlao
*This article was published on inquirer.net last March 18, 2015. For the online version, click HERE.
Sydney-based band Bonney Read is in the country on a “Humanitour” that seeks to inspire and raise funds for low-income communities through its unique brand of hard-rocking music.
The four-piece band composed of Jess Cooper, Kat Ayala, Astrid Holz and Jeremy Goldfinch, however, ended up gaining much more than what they had shared, thanks to their life-changing encounter with communities supported by the antipoverty movement, Gawad Kalinga (GK), and its partner in education, Joomajam.
The Bonney Read members spent March 6 at GK Telus in Quezon City, where it conducted a short music workshop with Sibol preschool kids assisted by Joomajam and GK Sitio Pajo.
“Our short trip to the GK communities gave us a better understanding of what we could do to help and what impact that would make on the communities and their members. We realized how easy it is to make a huge difference. For example, it costs AUD$75 to feed a child for one year. Even just visiting the communities brings hope, because it shows the members that people still care,” the group said in a statement.
“It also confirmed that we are making an important contribution by being here, working with the communities and even more so by sharing the GK and Joomajam story with the world through the documentary that we’re making of the tour,” it added.
The band’s nine-gig “Philippine Humanitour” began March 5 and will end March 21.
The musicians, who described their band as something “born out of the teeth, nails and tears of high school cheerleaders, band geeks and choir girls,” believe it should be about more than just making quality and authentic music, but also about achieving a higher objective, such as contributing to poverty alleviation.
Ayala, a Filipino who migrated with her family to Australia in her teens, said the group chose to work with GK and Joomajam because of their admiration for what these nongovernment organizations have already done in the Philippines.
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