HOMES JOY FOR 10 FILIPINO FAMILIES
By EUNICE del ROSARIO
MANAMA
TEN needy families in the Philippines have been provided with new homes, thanks to donations from people of various nationalities in Bahrain.
They are the first families to take advantage of the 60 homes
the charity group Ancop Gawad Kalinga Bahrain (Ancop GK) hopes to build as part of a Philippines-wide project to eradicate
slums.
Ancop GK has sent more money
this month to continue building new homes, estimated to cost about BD381 each.
"We have remitted enough funds for five more homes, putting
the number of (fully paid) homes by Bahrain donors to 25," said an Ancop GK spokeswoman.
The Bahrain
group was launched last November, under the auspices of the Philippines Embassy.
Donors have pledged to build
60 homes, each brick-built and with one or two bedrooms, amounting to over BD22,800.
Gawad Kalinga, the Philippines-based
movement, envisions building 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in seven years.
It was formally launched in
2003, with 2010 as the target year for delivery.
During a visit to Bahrain, Gawad Kalinga international director Roquel Pone said that the 10 homes funded by donors from Bahrain had already been given to needy families.
They include driver Jose Lozada, carpenter Joseph Oblero
and labourer Randy Ortega and their families, who all extended their gratitude to donors in Bahrain for their new homes.
Ancop Gawad Kalinga Bahrain
board member Fei Bernard is set to travel to the Philippines in December, particularly to the General Santos, South Cotabato
area in Mindanao, to set the stone-marker of the first Kingdom of Bahrain Gawad Kalinga Village.
"Ancop Gawad Kalinga Bahrain's vision is to build three Gawad Home Villages in the Philippines
as a show of friendship and co-operation between people of the Philippines
and the Kingdom of Bahrain," said the group spokeswoman.
"Very recently, Gawad Kalinga
as an organisation and Antonio Meloto, the man who started the movement, were accorded the highest and most prestigious Philippines
Magsaysay Award, for dedication to creating a nation without slums and helping thousands of poor Filipinos."
Ancop is the network of international organisations that
supports the work of Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines and other countries.
Among the Ancop GK partners
are individual donors and non-Filipino supporters - some of them wishing to remain anonymous.
There are as well groups who
spearheaded the fund-raising campaign, including the Triskelion International.
Other fund-raisers included
the exhibition visit of World Billiard champions Efren 'Bata' Reyes and Django Bustamante last February. For more information,
contact Roger Coronel on 36661805, Fe Gutierrez on 17726100 or Alex Ginete on 36066083.
GULF DAILY NEWS -Voice of Bahrain
Vol XXIX NO. 154 Monday 21st August 2006
Source: Brod Al Baila
