2015 was another great year for GK as a brand of hope. Our radical optimism, matched with the energy for positive action, was the antidote to the virus of pessimism, negativity and apathy. It was a day to day decision of selfless giving in a world that continues to suffer horribly from the tyranny of self-love and self-righteousness.
Our presence was always a cause for celebration.
This was highlighted by the massive volunteerism in the yearly Bayani Challenge from April to June, where the enthusiasm was fever-pitch to build typhoon-proof homes and sea-worthy boats in Haiyan-hit areas. Amateur builders with their community partners sang as they dug latrines, painted walls and landscaped edible gardens, to make the survivors start life anew with more dignity and more motivation for productivity in homes that are safe, healthy and human.
Presence transforms people dramatically.
It makes living heroes out of many ordinary citizens, as chronicled beautifully by British author Thomas Graham in his book The Genius of the Poor (with a French edition, La Richesse Des Pauvres), after his extraordinary adventure with everyday heroes in over a hundred GK villages, including those in dangerous rebel territories in Mindanao. His book is a must read to raise more Heneral Luna in the Philippines and more Nelson Mandela in Africa.
And it's never too early to raise them to be heroes.
Kusina ng Kalinga, which feeds 20,000 children daily nationwide, gave my grandchildren Ariel(10), Chloe (8), Tala(7) and Elias (5) a fun and most memorable experience serving nutritious mongo and tasty pinakbet meals to many malnourished children of public elementary schools in Quezon City. Goodness in action is the best teacher for children to learn about selflessness as the way to happiness.
It also powers the courage of ordinary citizens to be risk-takers for the sake of the powerless.
It gave Luis Oquinena and his army of hope warriors the boldness to enter Mamasapano after the carnage that killed 44 soldiers and dislocated thousands from their homes and communities. Gathering the scared and scattered, feeding the hungry and comforting those in despair, love can rebuild what anger destroys.
It is our presence on the ground that can make the world safer.
We can turn our threats into protection and gain greater authenticity and credibility in our mission.The needs and solutions are on the ground, with the ground and for the ground, rich and poor learning and creating quality of life together by matching compassion with competence, kindness with excellence and lofty idealism with enlightened pragmatism.
Last year social media gave me my biggest affirmation about the power of presence on the ground in a world where the least fortunate are often the object of study by the most educated who are disconnected from the reality of their needs or the recipients of a trickling down economy from the top that hardly trickles.
Growing goodness on the ground became an attraction for over 50,000 visitors to the GK Enchanted Farm to our social business camps, day tours and workshops on nation-building and inclusive wealth creation. It was the magnet for hundreds of interns from 32 universities abroad to come and see that raising free-range chickens and Pekin ducks and learning to turn goat's milk into fromage des cheve can be more exciting than a stint with Wall Street in New York or Louis Vuitton in Paris.
It was proof of concept to 160 APEC young leaders and staff from 17 member economies who visited the Farm last November that social entrepreneurship is the path to inclusive growth and our School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED Philippines) as a unique platform for children of farmers and tricycle drivers to have big dreams.
GK continues to be Philippines' gift to the world.
Our solidarity platform is the model of GK Indonesia's partnership with the government in improving the lives of 20,000 families in Jakarta. It is being explored by GK Australia for the aboriginal families in Dubbo, NSW after my trip there last year and Togo, West Africa, where a social business hub like the GK Enchanted Farm is being developed by Fondacio in Sichem. Malaysians are also our new partners in visioning an initiative to help the poor in Sabah instead of perpetuating our historical conflict with them over this territory.
I ended the year with a trip to France for COP 21 and a tour of 10 universities in Lyon and Paris to express our sympathy and solidarity, and to engage more young people to see themselves as the builder of a more enlightened global economy and the Philippines as their home and land of opportunity in Asia. The French interns we have hosted in the last five years have been the best ambassadors of their country to the Philippines.
Indeed, despite the threats and uncertainties in many parts of the world, 2015 was a good year for those who continue to see love, faith and hope with action as the way out of hunger, anger and despair.
We invite global partners next year to come to our Social Business Summit/GK Expo at the GK Enchanted Farm on January 15-17, the US GK Summit in LA on March 4-6 and the Positive Economy Forum at the GK Enchanted Farm on April 22 in partnership with French economist Jacques Attali.
Please join us fulfill our wish-list for 2016 to build more sustainable communities, feed and educate more children and raise more social entrepreneurs to create wealth for the greater good.
As I turn 66 on January 17, 2016, my greatest wish is for the world to be safer for our children and grandchildren as we raise them and future generations to see the poor as family with value and dignity, whom we do not abandon easily or simply see as objects of pity or charity.
May 2016 be a year of great blessing for you and your family as you continue to care for others. A bountiful New Year to all. May the coming year make us more caring for the peace and happiness of our family, our neighbors and the rest of humanity.
And may we be a gift of presence to more people in more places where there is lack or absence of love.
A bountiful New Year to all!
Tony