Welcome to Gawad Kalinga

Welcome to Gawad Kalinga

An Enchanted Gap Year Experience  by Thomas Graham The Gap Year experience, whereby students take a period of time out from studies to go travelling abroad, is a well-known phenomenon in Europe, but it is one I have become increasingly disillusioned with in recent years. Myself a Gap Year veteran, I have come to recognise how so many Gap Year experiences, supposedly “life-changing”, provide little opportunity to gain much other than a very lightweight impression of a new country or culture. Backpackers hang out with fellow backpackers, take some snaps of the local tourist hotspots, and then drink beer for the rest of the evening. All in the company of fellow backpackers, of course. Even volunteer programmes, mass produced and often over-priced, sometimes struggle to truly provide for volunteers’ skills and interests in more than a superficial way. For this reason I was particularly keen to meet Thomas de Torcy, a student from France who is currently experiencing his own kind of Gap Year experience working at Gawad Kalinga’s Enchanted Farm. When I met Thomas in February this year he appeared a 22 year old going on 17. When I met him again last week, he appeared a 22 year old going on 26, enthusing over the profound impact the last few months have had on his life. Clearly Thomas has caught the “GK bug” like so many of the rest of us! >>> Learn more about the GK Enchanted Farm Thomas with Tito Tony (Photo by Myk Tolbo)  Towards the end of last year, Thomas jokingly claims that he had the “misfortune” of meeting Tito Tony at a lecture the latter gave at one of the top business schools in France. Such was the enthusiasm and expectation created by Tito Tony’s speech that Thomas, as well as several other French students, wanted to get involved with GK for a few months. Instead of majoring in Finance, a prospect Thomas was not exactly thrilled by, he opted to do a semester with GK. As for the link between a Business Studies Degree and working at GK, Thomas was to gain practical business experience by collaborating on one of GK's social entrepreneurship projects. >>> Learn more about social entrepreneurship and the GK Center for Social Innovation He has since been working on one of GKs flagship Social Enterprise projects, supporting local entrepreneur Alvie with his Golden Egg business venture: “I have managed to learn more about business over the past three months than I had previously during my entire business studies course in France. We have had to develop almost everything from scratch, and I have had direct exposure to every aspect of the business, from setting it up and stock piling, to product development, community development and now even the marketing of the product to the consumer”. Whilst Alvie has shown the vision and courage that all great entrepreneurs have, he needed better organizational skills to really get the product off the ground. This is where Thomas has come in, along with another French intern, Alexis, who joined the team soon after. Thomas goes on to explain how the last three months have seen both he and Alexis every bit as involved in this growing business as Alvie does himself: “You have to see yourself as part of the business. It really is an almost 24-hour commitment we have made. It hasn’t always been easy, but when you start to see results it’s certainly worth it”. Alvie and Thomas brainstorming at the GK Enchanted Farm  Faced with the challenge of ensuring the business evolves in both a financially sustainable and pro-community/pro-poor manner has inspired Thomas to challenge his own long-term career objectives. “This experience has certainly challenged the ideas I had previously, which were more about getting rich. I never before considered myself an entrepreneur, but I’m now starting to look at one day opening my own business. The Philippines itself is such a land of opportunity, so maybe I’ll come back one day and start something here.” And what type of enterprise would he like to begin? “A French restaurant, run by the local community. That would be nice!” Thomas replies, an enthusiastic grin now beaming on his face. Thomas playing with the kids in GK Enchanted Farm  How many students at the age of 22 can claim that they have been exposed to the practicalities of growing and running a business in the way Thomas has? Perhaps not many. But it is Thomas’ exposure to the Gawad Kalinga dream, and the burning desire he now has to fight poverty all over the world, which will surely leave its most enduring mark. “The challenge will now be when I get back home - it is easy when you are working directly with the poor, the harder part will come when I’m back in France”.   Golden Egg, a business venture housed in the GK Enchanted Farm  As for Golden Egg? “Our aim is to be the first in the market and to flood it. We registered the company on 2nd May and can now sell to supermarkets. The potential is great”. You can tell by the look on Thomas’ face that he already dreads the day he has to leave - “I think I’ll even miss eating the rice! But seriously, what I’ve learnt about business, about myself and about the people and culture here, it’s incredible. This experience is not about what I’ve given the Filipinos - it’s about what the Filipinos have given me.” Now surely that beats the typical backpacker experience, doesn’t it?