Township developments“The whole thing is a platform for township development that has three components,†says Tan. “Community, industry and university. The community is the first to develop, because we have to take care of the people first. The second is industry, because we have to provide sustainability. And the last came two years ago, which is the university.â€
Tan has just sponsored and nurtured her first brood of 10 “Spartans†through the course, and hopes to produce many more, since the vision is to replicate the SEED program in other Gawad Kalinga communities throughout the Philippines.
Indeed, the transformation can be striking. The “Spartans†start out as typical rural youth: shy, inarticulate, unsure of themselves. By the end of the course they are ready to take on the world in pursuing their dreams. It’s a testament to what Tan calls “the power of presence.â€
“You cannot transform without the power of presence,†she says.
Gawad Kalinga’s social investors give not just financial support, but more importantly of themselves, in most cases living and working with their wards in the same community, as Tan has since 2015 when the program started. And even as they help their wards transform their lives, they find themselves transformed.
“Last year was very meaningful for me because instead of writing about it, I was living it, feeling it, breathing it,†she says. “I’m not a saint, I’m not philanthropic, I’m not even kind, really. Everything is training of the self. If it benefited others or did something good, that’s a bonus.â€
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