“Dream of Mindanao of being independent economically will remain an elusive dream if present Mindanao leaders will always forget to empower the poorest of the poor in Mindanao. This is the reason why armed conflict always flourish in the country’s second biggest island because the mass based are…

“Dream of Mindanao of being independent economically will remain an elusive dream if present Mindanao leaders will always forget to empower the poorest of the poor in Mindanao. This is the reason why armed conflict always flourish in the country’s second biggest island because the mass based are always forgotten” - Beverly Del Valle, urban poor leader in Caraga region.

I want to share my favorite video of Raki Vega with this group:www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m4KpojSJwI

This video is emblematic of what makes the world a better place every day. plus.google.com/100281304345694993244/about

This not just a video, it is a personal hope, dream and advocacy, for everyone, everywhere. It an "anthem" for tikkun olam, literally to "heal the world" and for gawad kalinga "to give care":....when i was amongst the poorest of the poor that i found in a very poor community of Tandag in rural, remote Mindanao in the Republic of the Philippines almost 30 years ago… i tried the best i could to help… because those rural filipinos only could “afford” to give me their HEARTS because, otherwise, they barely could afford the tattered shirts on their backs. i learned to love them because all they could do was to love me … they essentially could only “give” what they had to share. and, they invariably told me essentially that they knew their lives would be short and somewhat harsh, so they implored me to try to help someone else instead. i guess that must be the TRUE spirit of life, not only that of Gawad Kalinga… and the true spirit of humanity, not just that of the filipinos…..

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