4th Gawad Kalinga Builders Camp
Finally, an update to my dust-collecting main blog! 
I’ve been hanging around Twitter and Facebook too much (and sometimes, Tumblr) that I can’t manage to organize my thoughts for a read-worthy — and most of the time, long — blog post here. I seriously need to fix that. 
Anyway, it’s been a month since the Gawad Kalinga Bayani Challenge, but my enthusiasm for Gawad Kalinga didn’t end there. Last April 29 to May 1, 2011, I attended the 4th Gawad Kalinga Builders Camp at Sudlon, Maguikay, Mandaue City. I initially thought I wasn’t going to be able to join the camp ‘coz of conflicting schedules but I managed to sort it out. And I’m happy! Really! 
‘Coz the camp was exactly what I expected it to be — unexpected! Wahaha! Doesn’t expecting the unexpected make the unexpected expected? Weh shattap. 
But yeah, I could only say it was great, and my co-participants would be the one who’d attest to that. 
The first night of the camp was spent for GTKY and team building activities. We were grouped into four teams — Team Bang (my team), Team Amarri Builders, Team PURA (Powerful Union Reunited Again ), and Team 4-ra. 
There was a points system, and as the team who aimed to bring impact (bang!), we were determined to win! 
In fairness, we did good in the flag making, the chant, and the Spaghetti Tower (more like The Leaning Tower of Pasta because of the kinda-heavy marshmallow). 
A talk on Pilipino Ako followed. It’s not something new of a topic but somewhat an eye-opener that tells us to become more us, more Filipino. We’re not supposed to let others define us because we have our own identity. We just have to have the guts and will to live it. 
We were done by almost midnight, so we were then assigned a home to live in for the duration of the camp. I, together with Tiffy, stayed with the Banate family. They were, as expected, already asleep because of the time. 
We couldn’t and shouldn’t wake them up, so we turned in, too. It would’ve been okay with me to sleep on the floor, but I was kinda touched by the fact that a family of 5 decided to stay crammed in one room because they offered us the other. Totally praise-worthy.
Despite the few hours of sleep I had, I was glad to be able to interact with my “family” early in the morning. I got to know more about their background and got introduced to the 3 chikitings — Jessie, John Lloyd, and Moi2x! 
They were so positively active and energetic that everytime they make noise, I could only smile! They made me remember my childhood and made me think kids of the well-off family these days are getting ripped off of the true meaning of gadget-free childhood. 
Top: Kuya Jun2x & Jessie; Bottom: Ate Vic2x, John Lloyd, and Moi2x.
After the morning exercises, breakfast, and bath, we were then set for the long day! And it wasn’t just a long day. It was a heavy and sweaty one! 
We had more team building activities like the Unity Walk and the Mine Field.
We were so beat even before the build! But do you actually understand the feeling of being tired yet you still want to work and be in motion? Damn, I do! 
Smile, builder!
And the morning wasn’t even half of what the afternoon was! We had the Enduro Challenge then. It was as physically and mentally challenging as it was exciting! If I were to judge, it’s actually the best part. 
And what makes it even glorious is that our team finished first! I would’ve wanted to elaborate more on each challenge, but it would make this entry super-duper long (as you can see, this post is quite long already) and would diminish the excitement for the next campers.
Aside from the energy-draining activities, there were more talks. I could pretty much say that the gist was the promotion of love for our country by redefining our culture — honoring vs. bashing, unity vs. division, sacrifice vs. selfishness, etc. It’s a matter of doing the right things to honor our true identity (related to the first talk). 
The last activity for the day was the UBE (Ultimate Bonding Experience) Nyt. Each team was tasked to make a presentation about anything we could think of. This was the part where we laughed our hearts out! All teams were so creative and resourceful! Such a good way to end the day.
The morning of the last day was pretty much the same. We had the Helium Stick, the build, and then the talk. Pardon me if I forgot what the talk was about. 
I think I fell asleep on my seat at that time. Or I really just can’t recall.
Anyway, we had lunch after that. But it wasn’t the ordinary sit-on-the-chair-with-plate-spoon-and-fork-on-the-table kind of meal. We had a Boodle Fight! 
And all the stresses for the past 2 days were enough reason for everybody to pig out! 
There’s nothing like feasting with a bunch of bayani friends, eh?
Pigging out!
This is also the part where the final scores were revealed, and Team Bang emerged as the champion! Wuhoo! But of course, all of us played fair. With all that we’ve done, we’re actually more than winners already.
Team Bang!
What followed was the indispensable cam whoring session! Look at us! 
The GK builders.
Failed jump shot!
Looking back on what happened during the camp, I could say I’ve made the right decision of spending my weekend building relationships and a community, even missing out on the royal wedding and the beatification of Pope John Paul II. But no worries, I’m sort of updated now.
I’m pretty sure I’ll find myself in more GK builds in the future. Not only is it fulfilling in itself, it also is a great avenue for meeting new friends and people who share the same passion of helping the needy through building homes and letting them know that there’s still hope for this country. That’s the reason why I’m quite attached to Gawad Kalinga already. The selfess activities, my GKabarkada… What more is there to ask for?
PS I’m gonna write a separate post about the adventures/misadventures of the GKabarkada after the camp. Stay tuned!
Category: Events, Gawad Kalinga, Photos, Rants and Raves. Comments: 2 Comments. RSS
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