Don't Ask, Inspire

Hey all, Gawad Kalinga which describes itself as Radical Service with a mission to serve the poorest of the poor. I visited the Philippines last summer with GK, and I have been excited to return to work here because GK is just that, a radical take on service to the poor. As you can probably tell, I am pretty excited to be working with Gawad Kalinga and unfortunately it is not all for selfless reasons. I believe strongly that GK lives love in action and I have never seen a group live this love in such a selfless so holistically to such a great extent. Living in community this past year and in prayer through self reflection has helped me realize some of the many ways that I can embrace the mission of service to others more fully. So, I wanted to join GK with the hope of learning how to love all over again. It didn't take long to get my first lesson. As a member of the first batch of GKBuilders Corps Volunteers, I have been lucky enough to spend time with Tony Meloto who is the visionary behind GK. In our first interaction with him, he was explaining the importance of spreading the good news but instead of preaching he said, "Don't ask, Inspire." These words have taken me over as I look at how I work with others. How do I inspire? How do I not ask? What am I supposed to be doing? I've heard these words before. Ghandi's "Be the change you wish to see in the world" and St. Francis's "Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary" but with GK, I am also getting an example. There are many hundreds of people working in the movement of GK all making extremely simple salaries (some only make enough to go home once a year within the Philippines) but they live with the spirit of GK within them and that spirit inspires others and myself to also embrace that mission. I am excited to begin to start living this trinket of wisdom. I feel incredibly blessed to be here now with GK, and I look forward to sharing this movement, this work, this experience, these people with you.