NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, January 16, 2017

Kicking a football around as a teenager on the streets of southeast London, my heroes in 1990s Britain were the poster-boy soccer stars of that era who would adorn my bedroom wall.

As exciting as their exploits were, those heroes existed in another world, disconnected from my own more ordinary life. The possibility of actually meeting one of them never entered my head.

Waking up today in the Philippines, I know I can brush shoulders with living heroes on a daily basis. Many of them have emerged from extreme poverty, where scavenging or drug dealing as a means of survival were endemic.

With the help of countless volunteers who have stood by them, they have transformed situations of destitution and despair into over 2,500 beautiful Gawad Kalinga (GK) communities of collaboration and hope.