October 7, 2006
This is my 3rd year of volunteering as part of
the GK Expo. Being a graphic designer, I usually design banners for them,
resize photos, occasional odd jobs here and there. Each Expo marks every year
of our movement until we reach 700,000 homes in 7,000 communities in 7 years.
Its 2006, 3 years down GK777, 4 years left till 2010. These are mind-boggling
numbers to say the least. It becomes even more challenging to think about when
you add in the factor that everything will be coming from a spirit of
Bayanihan, a culture of helping each other out that our people seemed to have
faded a few decades ago.
There are usually many trials when it comes to putting
together a celebration of this scale. I’ve overheard a few hitches and
experienced quite some of them in the past years as I played my part in the
effort. This year the expo was quite
different. The expo usually had model houses exhibited on the site to encourage
both the benefactors and beneficiaries to do their part in rebuilding the nation.
35 model houses were to be put up by the Manila Bay side of the SM Mall of Asia.
A week before the expo Milenyo struck Manila.
It was the strongest storm to hit the country on the past 10 years with winds
reaching 230kph. It threw Manila to a standstill. Massive billboards fell along side major thoroughfares and
crashed on power lines causing a blackout in the nation’s capital that
stretched eastward towards the Bicol province. 5 days later power had yet to
normalize.
At the expo grounds, all the model houses being constructed
flew into the bay. In a breath of relief, after the storm a GK full-time worker
told me that amidst all the destruction none of our GK sites were affected save
for a tear on the roof of a school building at the Baseco site. All the
beneficiaries were safe. The model
houses from the expo are, however, now a part of the ecosystem of the Manila Bay, hopefully to become housing
for corals and other marine life. Among the GK community of Bayanis (heroes)
there was one casualty. One of the carpenters at the site was injured at the
waist by a flying GI sheet and was rushed to the hospital. By the way of the
expo he was well on the way to recovery.
After the storm I got to visit the site during our dance
practices. The stage had to be moved because the ground from which it was to
stand was too muddy for a crowd to occupy. One lot was flooded; sand had to be
poured in over the water to absorb it. Model houses were being reconstructed,
but instead of the original 35 only 12 were to be put together. The expo area,
I was told, was about 3 hectares large.
On the expo dates itself, my expo experience was pretty
weird. I ushered for a workshop that I wanted to attend but didn’t get to hear,
since I was mostly outside the venue apologetically telling people that the
place was already full. After that, I co-lead a dance group at the parade; the
weird thing is that I’m really not a dancer. Hoping to get some rest, I
borrowed a huge tent for me and my group, but never got to use it. Stubbornly,
I had it set up on pavers, trying to wedge the stakes between the bricks. We
managed to have the tent standing even without the stakes, but then the wind
kept on blowing it down. Being too tired to be frustrated, I just concluded
that, it was just not “meant to be”. We folded it up that evening and settled
for a tarpaulin mat on the concert grounds.
As the concert started, I lay on the mat while my group
watched the APO perform on stage. Me, I closed my eyes
just listening to their familiar songs.
I don’t remember what song it was but it prompted me to get
up and just walk the grounds. Tired as I was, something in the air made me
relax. Having no more work to do, I then realized it was a chance for me to
enjoy the expo. Stopping for a bite to eat, I found the people smiling and
nodding as if they knew you from somewhere. Some would strike up a conversation
with a comment or two, and you wouldn’t even know their name. Somehow, it
didn’t matter. It was as if, you all shared the same name, the same goals. It was
as if we were all GK.
The APO sang “Barkada” over the
speakers covering the entire site. The full time GK workers come to mind. They
come from all around the county to coordinate this huge effort, and they’re
definitely not in it for the pay. Extraordinary as their work may be, they’re
just as human as you or me. They make mistakes, loose their cool and sometime
cry when really frustrated, but what keeps them together is the love they have
for the work at hand and the respect they have from one another. Bilib talaga
ako sa kanila.
I look at the grounds and see that the stage isn’t as big as
before, and there was only one video wall instead of the usual 8. Milenyo hit
the GK budget, no doubt. But as I look
at all the people and relive my 3rd GK Expo experience I can see
God’s hand in everything, I know everything’s going to be just fine.
