"Why Don't We Include the Poor in Our Dreams?"

What do you say when someone asks you about your aspirations in life? 

For many, the answer is to find well-paying jobs, own nice things, and be happy. Ironically, most studies find that once people are able afford the basic necessities of life, money and materialistic items cease to make people significantly happier. What does generate happiness is strong social relationships, and dedicating time to a cause greater than ourselves. For instance, spending quality time with family or perfecting one’s teaching curriculum out of love for the job. 

This situation is problematic, as many leading psychologists have pointed out, because people take on 60+ hour work weeks to get a promotion that they think will make them happy, only to realize 40 years later that they've been leaning their career ladders against the wrong wall. Knowing this, it is important that we align our dreams with our knowledge of how flowmotion/life awesomeness occur. One of the social entrepreneurs I met at Gawad Kalinga does just this.

Me and Cherrie Atilano (R) at GK

Cherrie Atilano is the founder of Agricool, an organization that teaches the rural poor how to farm as a means to make a living and develop useful life skills. I was introduced to Cherrie by a friend from college, Edmund Soriano, who is so nice (thanks, Edmund!). Cherrie and I met up at the Gawad Kalinga Farm, where she lives full time. She is short, Filipino, and speaks with an fierce dedication to her work. 

In 2011, Cherrie was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to pursue a masters at Cornell. However, the immediate need of the poor drew her to turn down the Fulbright to work full-time on Agricool in the Philippines. The most striking question that Cherrie shared with me from her conversations with Tito Tony was, “Why don’t we include the poor in our dreams?” After all, it is our goals and aspirations that drive the work we do, and if our dreams solely consist of fluffy jobs, it’s likely that that’s what will come to fruition in our lives. Likewise, if we include the empowerment of the poor in our dreams, it is much more likely to come to fruition, and produce happiness in the process. Hope you're dreaming big!

The Enchanted Farm

Three years ago, 35 hectares of land in the Encanto Barangay (neighborhood) north of Manila had no roads or buildings. Today the area is home to Gawad Kalinga’s Enchanted Farm, which houses 50 families, 14 budding social enterprises, a Bamboo Palace, flourishing gardens and much more. I originally planned to visit the Enchanted Farm for a few hours and ended up staying 5 days.

Founded by Tony Meloto, Gawad Kalinga aims to build a path out of poverty for millions of Filipinos who live without access to clean water and basic life The goal is to foster an international family of social entrepreneurs that will work with the community to build social businesses to empower the poor. Families apply to live in the GK community and are selected based on their level of need and willingness to work with GK's programs. All adult residents have jobs with either a GK social enterprise or in a nearby neighborhood. Here's a story that illustrates how it all works:

An uncomfortably high percentage of toys in the Philippines are imported and materials that are toxic for children. That's what inspired Fabien Courteille to create Plush and Play, which creates safe and educational plush toys shaped like fruits and vegetables. My favorite toy is a giant banana complete with a detachable peel. The banana is named Jessica Saging, a clever combination of the well-known American Idol participant Jessica Sanchez, and the Filipino word for banana, saging. 

Fabien arrived at GK as an intern from France in 2011. Three years later, he is still going strong with Plush and Play which provides jobs for women, locally made toys for children in the Philippines, and inspiration for the more nascent GK social enterprises. "I don't know what happened, " Fabien said as he reflected on his time at GK, "I just dropped everything and stayed." To date, Plush and Play has sold more than 10,000 toys and aims to sell 20,000 this year. 

Fabien, Randy, Me and the Titas of Plush and Play!

I had a great time playing with the toys, and the Titas (respectful term for women/aunties on the farm) who created them. Sidenote: I am backpacking with a necessities-only rule to keep my pack light, and it makes no sense for me to buy a giant stuffed banana, but even so, it took some serious willpower to leave Jessica Saging behind.

That's one snapshot of the Enchanted Farm. I'll add that there appears to be no crime on the farm, and interestingly, I didn't see any pregnant women. Tito Tony says this is because everyone's working too hard. There is a wonderful family feel to this place; you address everyone by Tito or Tita - the traditional terms of respect for aunts and uncles, and people seemed to learn my name instantaneously which made me up my own name game.

***

One sunny afternoon, I jogged past a group of 8-10 year old boys on the Farm. They greeted me with energetic smiles and a respectful, “Hi, Po!” (“Po” is used like “sir” or “mamn” in the US). I waved and smiled back, and before I knew it the boys, all in flip-flops, were running with me! They giggled as they parodied my jogging style, throwing in some sassy hips and high knees as we made our way around the 35 hectare farm. I felt like a movie star enveloped in a throng of fans. Just for kicks, I started skipping. The boys followed suit. I grape-vined to the left and then the right. So did they. This escalated into a full-on game of follow the leader that culminated in a sprint down the homestretch back to the dining hall, laughing the whole way. We had run the whole farm and I had hardly noticed. What good company to have on a jog. And man, those kids sure could fly in their flip-flops.