Antonio Meloto says "Listen to the Poor, Work with the Young"
The fifty-six-year-old executive director of Gawad Kalinga (GK) Community Development Foundation heads a “global movement” that has to date built houses and communities for some two hundred thousand of the poorest Filipinos in partnership with the homeowners themselves and with other committed individuals, organizations, and corporations worldwide. From some ten individuals— all members of the Philippine-based lay Catholic renewal group Couples for Christ (CFC)—who began working among the disaffected youth in the Bagong Silang relocation site in Caloocan on December 26, 1995, GK now boasts of ten thousand regular volunteers. These are supported by over one hundred thousand on-call volunteers from around the world. Together they have helped build 1,400 GK communities across the country.
Born to humble beginnings in Bacolod, Philippines, Tony Meloto studied in Ateneo de Manila on a scholarship program and graduated to lead a successful business career. He had a life-transforming spiritual encounter with God in 1985, and gave more of his life to a Catholic organization, Couples for Christ. As one of its leaders, Tony was heavily involved in the Couples for Christ’ outreach program in Bagong Silang, a huge relocation site for "squatters" in Metro Manila. It was there that God opened Tony’s eyes and gave him a vision; a life purpose.
The squatters living in Bagong Silang desperately needed the basic necessities of life, both physical and spiritual. Tony saw the need to not only get them out of poverty, but to uplift their spirits, remove their "slum mentality", and instill new hope. But one man can’t do it alone. Thus, Gawad Kalinga was born; wherein new homes will be built for and by the poor with the help of sponsors. The homes will form a Gawad Kalinga (GK) village, where families will be taught right Christian values and skills to form a new livelihood. Children are given proper education and GK volunteers provide counseling and guidance.
Old capital traditionally sees the young simply as market, not definers and navigators of their more complex future. But game-changers are mostly young. Those who brightened Davos were the tech pioneers who were like rock stars to many admirers though they conducted themselves rather ordinarily. Unconsciously, I was a fan too, of the power of their genius and the possibilities of their innovation to create new paths to goodness. I guess at 62 I still wanted to move like Jagger -- who was there -- never wanting to lose the energy that renews life and makes it exciting. The older I get the more I want to work with the young who teach me how to dare."
Source: Lessons in Davos: Listen to the Poor, Work with the Young