GK1MB Rally: Evidence of a National Movement

Today was the GK1MB Rally. 1MB stands for "Isang Milyon Bayani" (1 million heroes); it's a campaign to raise awareness about GK in the Philippines and around the world by getting people to participate in Gawad Kalinga through tours, builds, and rallies such as today's.

Today's rally was held at Araneta Center, where Karl and I watched a couple PBA games several weeks ago. Instead of basketball fans and bakla, however, the Center was packed with GK volunteers and beneficiaries. GK rented buses to get people from GK villages to the center.


The day was filled with music and dance performances by professional groups, volunteers, and beneficiaries. In-between the performances, GK fulltime volunteers, including the founder, Tony Meloto, gave talks on GK's impact on the lives of its beneficiaries. At one point, I was called up onstage alongside other Filipino-Americans and foreigners who were volunteering for GK.


The guy speaking in the picture is Dylan Wilk, a billionaire Englishman who sold off his video game distributing business in order to volunteer fulltime. He's also married to Tito Tony's daughter, Anna. O'Hagan and me are next, followed by Victor, Theresa, and Liberty, who go to Stanford. Calvin is the FilAm in the white polo; he goes to Georgetown, but he studied abroad at Ateneo University in Manila, where he also volunteered for GK. He gave an opera performance earlier during the day.

Karl and I mostly chilled backstage:


The day ended with more inspirational talks and a lot of dancing. Here's Myra and me looking hot:


In 3.5 years, GK has set up 1400 communities. That's thousands of former squatters whose lives have changed, hundreds of volunteers who take time away from their families in order to spend it with the poor, and a handful of fulltime workers who have given up entire careers in order to make that happen. I'll go into a comparison with other similar NGOs later, but if you knew and saw and what I know and see, you too would wonder why more people don't know about GK. I guess that's why I'm here.