After a 10-month labor of love from the beneficiaries and volunteer workers, the 12 housing units at GK Euro Maralit were finally completed and turned over last Saturday, March 15. Local government personalities led by Mayor Edwin Olivares and Barangay Captain Cho Villar were present during the occasion.
Mr. Donato Almeda, the Director of Bloomberry Resorts Corporation, represented the donor corporation. The Executive Director of Gawad Kalinga, Mr. Luis Oquinena, was likewise on hand. BLD Manila was represented by DCS members Nato Limlengco (Mission), Bogie Lorenzo (Formation), Ed and Nette Fernandez (Management), Floro and Beth Bonga and Manny and Fely Manahan of BLD-GK Ministry. Ric and Rizza Pascua and Joey Viñas of the BLD-GK Global Ministry took time to attend the ceremony.
The event started with a Eucharistic Celebration, officiated by Fr. Gio Santos followed by short speeches from the guests and culminated with the presentation of the symbolic keys to the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries, as may be expected, were profuse with words of gratitude. For more than ten years, they squatted in a cramped area with no water and electricity.
GK Euro derived its name from ‘Europe’ where OFW’s banded together to tie up with Gawad Kalinga to provide housing for our less fortunate brethren. Surprisingly, they were domestic helpers, who despite their own needs, offered their hard earned money to start the project for the benefit of non-family members. The enclave can accommodate 116 units and to date, 98 units have already been built, including the 12 units just recently turned over.
BLD Manila plans to build a model community at GK Euro starting with the family beneficiaries of the 12 units. Earlier, BLD Manila conducted a Life in the Spirit Seminar for the couples together with their neighbors, who will form a prayer group there. The program includes “Kasalan Ng Bayan,” medical and dental mission, scholarship for the children, livelihood projects and waste management where the garbage can be processed into fertilizer and which will also promote cleanliness in the area. Ultimately, the preeminent objective is for the families to enjoy a life of peace, stability and happiness with Christ as the center. This may be just be a dream now, but we know that with unwavering faith and hope in the Lord coupled with unshakable determination and unremitting hard work, our impossible dream can be a reality! To God be the glory!
(Reported by Nato & Maride Limlengco, DCS Mission, BLD Manila)
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