Miss GK and her experience By JAMES PALOMO
Earlier this year, Bianca Lucas (Miss GK Australia 2007) travelled to the Philippines to participate in GKY GAT 2008. In her travels during her second GAT, she was able to re-experience and re-live the work of Gawad Kalinga.
Bianca travelled to the Visayas build where she found herself in a familiar situation, but was to be a whole new experience. “While building in a new village with 21 houses at Sinigayan in Bacolod, you can distinguish that it is less developed than other villages, especially through how the host families presented themselves. But it didn’t stop me from talking to the locals.”
Although Bianca was only at her build for a limited amount of time, she was able to share special moments and stories with her host family. “My Ate (older sister figure, in Tagalog), whom I stayed with for 2 hours talking, revealed to me her life in the slum areas – that they hardly ate meals, were lucky enough (if) they would eat once or twice a day and also shared her emotions on how she felt coming and living into a GK village.” One quote from her Ate struck her: “I don't understand how and why people who we are not our relatives or we don't even know come and help us, without expecting something in return.”
Bianca had already experienced so much on her first GAT, but has managed to gain even more from this experience. “While visiting Philippines and seeing different villages, it was an eye opener that poverty really does exist – I know and we all know it’s out there. But, it is to understand and remind myself how blessed I am to be here in Australia…I realized that I have so much to give back in return to help others and how fortunate I am to have been given this opportunity…Gawad Kalinga alters the way I saw my life; it transformed my heart by just seeing the smiles of my fellow countrymen. I felt even more proud to be a Filipino!”
*** Please visit our GK Youth Australia Photo Gallery for photos of the Miss GK Coronation Night and GK YGAT Mission: LVM ***
