To get to GK Manggahan-Kawayanan, you’d have to enter the gate of an exclusive subdivision in Parañaque City. You’d have to drive through the paved roads and see the big and beautiful homes in all their gated splendor. A couple of blocks later, you’d have to turn left and at the end of the road, you’ll see another gate and an arc. Beyond that arc is what used to be the slums – an area filled with squatters and basically everything that the homeowners of the subdivision feared. Today, you’ll see no such thing. What you’ll see is an empowered community of colorful homes and productive families.

The transformation of GK Manggahan-Kawayanan from slums to an empowered community

When Michelle Sta. Catalina ("Santa" for short) first stepped foot in GK Manggahan-Kawayanan as a GK full-time worker, she could hardly believe her eyes. While she has lived in the exclusive subdivision all her life, she has never been inside GK Manggahan-Kawayanan. Back when their streets weren’t as safe as they are today, Santa recalls, “Phase 4 of the subdivision had to be gated just so they couldn’t pass through our streets and our houses. I would hear about loitering, occasional theft and all of these stories; I would see the rowdiness, hear the noise. I never realized that it stopped, that it quieted down. I never realized that apparently, the time when they were laying low was the time that GK came into the picture and they were already being transformed and developed into a community.” As a GK worker, Santa has seen the transformation of so many GK sites and its beneficiaries. But it was only with GK Manggahan-Kawayanan that the transformation truly hit home for her.

Making It Personal

The transformation of GK Manggahan-Kawayanan only led to Santa’s deepening conviction of never leaving the community behind. “Having experienced how they were before and then seeing firsthand where they’re trying to go now just made everything that we talk about to partners, everything that we talk about inside HQ – real. I realized that if we really want to make a difference, we can’t do so from the sidelines or from the bleachers. We make a difference by playing the game with them. By being the quarterback. By being the runner. By being defense. Whatever it takes. So that’s what it became to me.”

Santa (rightmost) with (L-R): Kuya Buboy Abejero of GK Manggahan-Kawayanan, Project Director Tito Cokes de Leon, KB President Tita Eva Abejero and CYD Coordinator Tita Ana Tirthdas during a build with Citi volunteers

Like Santa, other homeowners like Tito Cokes de Leon (Project Director) and Tita Ana Tirthdas (Child and Youth Development) have been a big part of the community’s transformation as members of the caretaker team, guiding the community in their journey out of poverty. And for Santa, it’s about realizing that real change and development means allowing these people to be part of her life. "I won't make a dent in other people's lives unless they have a personal and deep affinity with me, that I truly know them and they truly know me, as a person and not as simply as a GK worker.”

Indeed, spending time in the community allowed Santa to get to know the residents on a more personal level. “When I hear Tita Eva (Kapitbahayan president) talking about how she wants to persevere with Manggahan, how she built a water business not for her family but so that they can cope with the expenses that they spend for the community, it makes me believe that if someone like Tita Eva can give so much of herself, what more if there were many of us doing that together? What more if it was also me sharing it with my loved ones and my family?”

Sharing the Love

Last January 21, 2012, Santa did try to share her love for GK Manggahan-Kawayanan by starting paMana ni Sta, a joint birthday build with her boyfriend Marc Manalastas ("Mana" for short) and the people that mattered most to both of them. In Marc's eyes, “It was about doing something for others on your celebration of life. It gave so much more meaning to our birthdays to be able to live life the way God wanted us to – to live with others, loving others.”

Family and friends build together during the first year of paMana ni Sta last January 21, 2012

From the onset, they already decided that they would make it an annual celebration of love. On the second year of paMana ni Sta, just last January 26, 2013, Marc deepened the experience for the both of them with an exciting and bold move. Before lunch, he proposed to her – right there in GK Manggahan-Kawayanan, within a prayer and with all of the people they loved. When asked why he chose that moment, Marc shared, “Manggahan is home. And more than having everyone witness it, it was really because it was what we both loved – the place, the people, the act of love. And I was certain that this was the best way God wanted me to do it – with Him and through Him, celebrating with family and friends who shared and made time, with the blessing of her parents and mine.”

paMana ni Sta Season 2 was extra special because of their engagement: a special moment shared with family, friends, the community and Team GK

paMana ni Sta

After that day, Santa told Manggahan, “Wow, wala na, you’re tied to me forever. Because something special happened here. And no matter how many GK communities I can talk about and visit, I can never say that I got engaged anywhere else except Manggahan, during paMana ni Sta.”

And what exactly is Santa and Marc’s “pamana?”

“paMana is really just giving away to the people that mattered to us, what mattered to us most,” Santa shares. And this is the love that she wants to inspire in her family and friends – love for the people who need it the most, love for country and the future that we collectively hold, and the love that she shares with Marc.

Inspiring family and friends to share the love with those who need it the most

Santa fell in love with this GK site the first time she laid her eyes on it, but it was by giving love that she, and now also her fiancé, really found fulfillment. “The biggest thing that Gawad Kalinga teaches us is to really extend our hearts to those who need our love. And it really became so clear to me that it is not and it will never be love until it’s shared. Because that is the whole premise of love. Love will never be actualized, it will never be fulfilled unless you share it. The whole fulfillment of love is to be able to give it.”

And it is this kind of love that transforms slums into peaceful communities, that breaks barriers of class and distrust to pave the way for miracles of solidarity. It's personal, sincere and shared. It is this kind of love that can truly end poverty.

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Gawad Kalinga is not a charity, rather, it's an organization that aims to end poverty by building empowered and productive communities. This would not be possible without the caretakers and volunteers who have journeyed with us in changing the lives of others. Like Santa and Marc, you too can share your love to the poorest of the poor and make sure that no one is left behind. Click HERE to celebrate your personal milestones with us.