Thursday, May 22, 2008

GK Bayani Challenge ’08:

Bayanihan Spirit is Alive! Picture shows a student-volunteer of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan sweating it out under the sun during the GK Bayani Challenge.

When Gawad Kalinga called for bayanis to build homes for fellow Filipinos, wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. (SMART) did not hesitate to heed the call.
The 3rd GK Bayani Challenge, dubbed H.O.P.E. 2008: Building the Highway of Peace, was held in several municipalities of Bukidnon. Mindanao-based SMART employee-volunteers from the Network Services Division and from the Customer Care Group took on the challenge of building one GK house in five days.
Complementing the SMART team were student-volunteers of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, which has an existing partnership with SMART through the Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP), an industry-academe partnership program that helps raise the level of technology and engineering education in the country.
This is the third time SMART participated in the GK Bayani Challenge. SMART volunteer teams were deployed in the 2006 and 2007 Bayani Challenge held in Southern Leyte and Bicol, respectively.
Team SMART was assigned to the GK Paglaum San Miguel Village of Barangay San Miguel in Maramag, around 53 Kilometers south of Malaybalay City. For five days, the volunteers sweated it out under the sun doing work different from the usual –digging earth for the house’s foundation, carrying hollow blocks, mixing cement, among others.
“The spirit of bayanihan was very much alive. When other teams saw that one team needed assistance, they went over to that team’s house to help out,” said Roy Perfuma from SMART’s Customer Care Group. “One thing we learned is that we’re not just building a house. We’re building it for a beneficiary. We strengthen human spirit, to spark hope and joy.” /MP

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