Luis & Louis
Jose Luis Oquiñena, CEO of Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation Inc, was recently in Perth to preside over the Board Meeting of Gawad Kalinga Australia, of which he is also Deputy Chairman
Gawad Kalinga, or GK, is a volunteer-driven outreach movement on an ongoing mission for the massive social and economic transformation for 5 million Filipinos by 2024 through community building and countryside development. GK’s work has thus far impacted the lives of about 1 million Filipinos for the better.
Luis has been a volunteer for Gawad Kalinga outreach since he was 19 years old, as a member of the Youth for Christ. He went on to become a full-time GK worker, helping raise communities all over the Philippines, including in calamity and danger zones. He was among a small group of GK workers who ventured to Muslim territories in Southern Philippines, and succeeded in mediating differences between Christians and Muslims through community building and values formation. He now leads an organisation which has a vibrant ground presence in 3,000 com- munities throughout the country and a wide volunteer base.
While in Perth, Luis took the opportunity to attend community functions, exchange ideas with community leaders and business sponsors, and meet members of the Filipino migrant community in Perth. He also connected with former volunteers in GK com- munities in the Philippines who now reside in WA.
Speaking to second-generation Filipino Australians in Perth and Mandurah, Luis expressed gratitude for the community’s support for Gawad Kalinga programs and reminded the youth to connect back to the Philippines and its culture, whenever the opportunity presents itself. To the new and emerging Filipino communities in WA, Luis had this to say: “It makes me very happy to see our countrymen making good abroad. You are doing our mother country a great service. Meanwhile, back home, we are doing our best to take care of those who are not as privileged to have the same opportunities as others, who have been left behind and who need the most help. We are taking care of the needy in our country, doing what is possible to enable them to overcome hardships and poverty, so that if they succeed, every Filipino will feel proud, wherever they are in the world.”
Accompanying Luis on his first trip to Perth was young French social entrepreneur Louis Faure. Louis currently works at GK En- chanted Farm as business mentor to small-scale Filipino farmers at the Animal Farm in the GK village; assisting them put up a co- operative of naturally-raised free- range chickens; sharing with them his knowledge on good agricultural practices, and helping them develop marketing skills to add value to their production. Initially planning a short stint at the Farm, Louis has remained for a year and a half, and is extending his stay for another year to see his chicken business prosper together with the Filipino interns, and to ensure that the cooperative is running with 25 farmers and 1,500 chickens.
Asked why he is working with chickens in an isolated farm in the Philippines, instead of enjoying the good life back in Paris, Louis said it is all about putting one’s competencies for a higher purpose. Further enlightening the confounded, Louis adds that he is partnering with the poor in the Philippines, not because he wants to look heroic or to add a feather to his cap, but because there is actual convergence; and that, in reality, just as he has skills to contribute to the partnership, the Philippines in general and the poor partners in particular have something to give to him that he does not possess and cannot otherwise get. We heard Louis say that the Philippines has so much resources, and that Filipinos should feel proud and work in convergence to put these resources to productive use for the greater good.
