gawad kalinga housing project 0278

600 SW 3rd Street, Suite 2201
Pompano Beach, Florida 33060
1-800-391-8545
PROJECT 0278
Gawad Kalinga Housing
“Unslumming” the Slums
— Philippines —
I was homeless, and you took me in…
Matthew 25:35
WWW.CROSSINTERNATIONAL.ORG
GAWAD KALINGA HOUSING
PROJECT 0278
Project Synopsis
Description
Build safe new houses for families living in
dirty, dangerous slums.
Purpose
To transform the slums into thriving, Christcentered communities.
Location
Metro Manila and throughout the Philippines.
Cost
$2,500 builds one home and helps support the
community.
Highlights
• The Gawad Kalinga project seeks to restore
the dignity of the poor by transforming dirty,
dilapidated slums into thriving communities.
• Shanties are replaced with clean, safe,
beautiful new homes with brick walkways
and potted flowering plants.
• In addition, the project provides parks with
playgrounds for the children, and Community
Centers that teach the values of stewardship,
team effort and community spirit.
• Beneficiaries share in the
labor, alongside trained
Gawad Kalinga volunteers.
• After receiving their new
homes, the families learn
self-reliance as they
participate in educational
programs, livelihood
training, microfinance and
opportunities for Christian
fellowship.
• A gift to Cross International
will provide a sturdy new
house for a family in need
and help support their
community.
1
GAWAD KALINGA HOUSING
The Need
For the 20 million Filipinos crammed
into the holes and crevices of dense
urban slums, it’s hard to imagine a
bright future when you can’t even see
the sky beyond the rising walls of
plastic, paper, cardboard, wood scraps
and corrugated tin.
Slum life in the Philippines is a life
of filth and despair. Squatters occupy
makeshift rooms sometimes no more
than three or four feet high, connected
by a seemingly endless network of dark,
narrow alleys and makeshift stairways.
Deprived of basic sanitation, they
breathe in the fumes of open sewers
and polluted canals and walk through
muddy, trash-strewn streets.
Many of these shantytowns crop
up near large garbage dumps — an
economic opportunity of last resort for
the most desperately poor. Parents are
forced to bring their children with them
as they dig through piles of rubble for
anything that can be eaten or sold to
support themselves and their
families. Bereft of opportunities
for advancement, they get caught
in a cycle of poverty that they
simply pass from generation to
generation.
Before these families can break
free of the cycle, they need to
believe it can be done. They need
hope, dignity and the motivation
to achieve something greater.
That is the goal of the Gawad
Kalinga project. With support
from Cross International, this
amazing outreach is changing
lives and “unslumming” the
slums of the Philippines.
2
PROJECT 0278
GAWAD KALINGA HOUSING
PROJECT 0278
Project Description
Cross International is tackling poverty head-on by helping Gawad Kalinga transform slums into
vibrant, Christ-centered communities.
When Gawad Kalinga goes into a neighborhood, shanties are torn down and replaced with brightly
colored concrete homes, settled side-by-side on paved streets, accented by potted plants and sturdy front
doors. Each new house they build is composed of a kitchen, living/dining area, bathrooms and one or
more bedrooms, providing much more space than what many families have previously been forced
to live in. Even the color schemes are radically changed in these formerly dark, dreary neighborhoods.
Believing that the poor should have a welcoming and attractive place to live, Gawad Kalinga uses
bright paint and lively graphic motifs for its houses.
A slum is more than just a place — it’s also a mentality that keeps the poor trapped in poverty. For
that reason, this project focuses as much on internal change as external change. For example, to foster a
sense of ownership over their new homes and restore their dignity and self-reliance, the beneficiary
families participate in the labor alongside trained volunteers. When finished, they are rewarded with
a safe, secure, respectable house they can truly be proud of.
Instead of spending their days at the dump, families in these revitalized neighborhoods can take
advantage of parks, playgrounds and Community Centers. Inside the Centers, they have access to an
array of beneficial services, including pre-school education, medical care, dental care, livelihood
training, microenterprise and opportunities for Bible study and Christian fellowship. They are
breaking the bonds of poverty, enriching their children’s lives and deepening their faith in Christ.
Where once there was fear and despair, there is now prayer, friendship, solidarity and hope for the
future — and it all starts with a house.
3
GAWAD KALINGA HOUSING
PROJECT 0278
Help Now!
The transformation of filthy slums
into thriving communities has been
incredible, but the need is still great.
Many desperately poor families in the
Philippines are waiting and praying for
a helping hand to pull them out of poverty.
That helping hand can be yours!
You could be the one God is calling
to reach down into the dirt, grime and
darkness of the slums and bring hope
to a family in need. By partnering with
Cross International, you can bless a
family with a safe, sturdy new house
they can truly call home. They will no
longer have to sleep on dirt floors,
huddle in crowded spaces under leaky
roofs or inhale the fumes of open sewers.
Instead, they will live in a beautiful
community, cleansed on the outside
and inside by the love of Christ and
energized for change.
Your gift to Cross International for
the Gawad Kalinga project will help pull
back the darkness and usher in the light
of a happier, more prosperous future.
With your help, we will welcome the poor
to a better tomorrow and invite the lost
to the household of faith, “built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets,
with Christ Jesus himself as the chief
cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20). Won’t
you join us?
Our Promise to You!
100 percent of the proceeds of this appeal will be used for this project. In the event that we receive more than
needed to fund this project, additional gifts will be used for other urgent needs in the ministry.
4
[tm1210]
600 SW 3rd Street, Suite 2201 • Pompano Beach, Florida 33060 • 1-800-391-8545
© 2012 Cross International. Cost effectively written, designed and printed in-house.