Comments on: POST-SLUM PAYATAS

By: Kenny

Kenny — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 19:45:23 +0000

I just returned from 15 days in the Philippines and Payatas was one of three slums I visited. It was truly an eye opener. God bless you.

Kenny

By: Dylan Wilk

Dylan Wilk — Wed, 17 May 2006 01:54:11 +0000

To find out more about GK, by the way, please visit http://www.gawadkalinga.org and http://www.ancopusa.org. We have volunteers in 40 states in the USA, all over Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, SIngapore, Japan and elsewhere. If you’d like to get in touch with your local GK team, please email dylan_wilk@yahoo.com. God bless you all :)

By: Neal

Neal — Thu, 04 May 2006 17:35:35 +0000

Thanks for presenting this story. My wife is filipino and we sponsor a child in Quezon City through the Abot-Kamay project of Children International, so we’re familiar with conditions there. Poor infrastructure and routine corruption really contribute to a defeatist attitude in Manila and elsewhere in the Philippines. When you don’t believe it’s possible to live better there’s no point in trying to improve your living conditions. I’ve heard of GK before and have wanted to learn more about what they’ve been doing and plan to do in the future. The situation truly requires a wholistic, long-term and persistant approach. No single NGO can solve the problem, but GK seems to be well positioned to make a significant difference.

By: andrea

andrea — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 23:43:25 +0000

While there is inherent value in providing shelter and basic infrastructure for an unrepresented population, it is truly the transformation of perception that allows the community to ascend out of the “squatter settlement.” (i’m in complete agreement with Dan’s comment.) There’s a rehab organization called Ta’ Rebocado in Salvador, Brazil that has taken a similar approach to GK’s in a wholistic program for rehabilitation. Their goal was to make it a model program replicable in other communities in Brazil and Latin America, however they haven’t quite made it there.
Check out the website for some images, but I warn you it’s a few years old.
http://www.sarahuber.com/candeal/start.html
Keep the news coming!

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 15:59:51 +0000

I don’t want to sound pessimist, but isn’t there an unfortunate chance of all this beautiful work be squashed by a typhoon again?

How are these houses prepared for such thing? This is already a great deal of effort and it must be copied all over the world, but they can’t forget that the same tragedy can happen this year, or next.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:10:34 +0000

�Poverty is not just an absence of money. [�] You just can�t take away the slums; you also have to take away the slum mentality of the people who live there.�

That is so true, even here in Central America. I’m glad Moleto is teaching this, because for a citizen from a rich nation (me) it is hard to point this out without being called a racist. If there is one thing I have found true in the last year it is that, “Third World” is a state of mind.

By: Mary Amanda Van Ast

Mary Amanda Van Ast — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:44:15 +0000

This is amazing and beautiful to see. It almost brought a tear to my eye to know what a good cause this is. Thank you for again putting a wonderfully informative article up :)