Pinoy is one of CNN's TOP 10 HEROES 09

A CNN hero started with a
pushcart full of hopes
(GMANews.TV)
With an ocean of garbage as his
playground as a child, Efren
Peñaflorida Jr. was accustomed
to living amid the ills of society.
The slum area in Cavite province
where he grew up abounded
with solvent-sniffing kids and
tough gangsters. People sifted
through dumpsites during the
day and slept in the cemetery’s
empty crypts at night.
To vote for Peñaflorida as CNN
Hero of the Year, click here. It
was 1997. Peñaflorida, a
gangling 16-year-old youngster
back then, was occasionally
bullied and beaten by street
toughies. No one would have
thought that, 12 years later, he
would be short-listed by
globally known Cable News
Network (CNN) as a candidate
for its CNN Heroes. “I grew up
really poor. My father was a
driver and my mother was a
laundrywoman. When I went to
school, I experienced being
mocked, bullied, discriminated
against," said Peñaflorida, the
second of three children.
“I wanted to settle scores with
the bullies. But I realized I could
turn a bad experience into
something positive." At the time,
Peñaflorida was part of Club
8586, a youth group in Cavite.
His mentor encouraged him to
help curb the rampant gang
wars and fraternity feuds in
their communities, where kids
as young as nine years were
already involved in violent
fights.
‘Pushcart classroom’ Despite
having to cope with his own
limited means, Peñaflorida
formed the Dynamic Teen
Company (DTC) with his two
peers. The fledgling group
ventured into work among
destitute and out-of-school
youth, teaching them basic
literacy skills, values formation,
and even personal hygiene.
Armed only with plastic bags
loaded with books and school
supplies, Peñaflorida and his
team roamed the shantytowns
of Cavite, offering kids a unique
chance to learn useful things in
the “street classroom" setting.
Years later, the platform for
their mobile classroom would
evolve into pedicabs, and
eventually into what it is
today – a Kariton Klassrum
(literally, “pushcart classroom").
The Kariton Klassrum now
carries a mini-library, reading
aids, blackboards, and even
detachable tables and chairs.
One of the mobile classrooms
turns into a "relief cart" for
Ondoy victims. DTC file photo
Peñaflorida says that his
commitment to teach basic
literacy to kids is his way
of “paying forward" – having
been a scholar himself. His
elementary and high school
education was funded by World
Vision Philippines, while his
college education was
shouldered by Club 8586. Not
surprisingly, he took up a
degree in Education.
Now 28, Peñaflorida earns a
living as a public school teacher
in Cavite. On Saturdays, he
continues his pushcart
classrooms –which have
expanded into Manila – with
other teen volunteers now
reaching 2,000. Aside from
teaching literacy, the group also
conducts feeding programs for
abandoned street kids who
scavenge for food by sifting
through heaps of garbage.
Who is a hero?
When the world-renowned
Cable News Network (CNN) early
this year called for submissions
for its annual search for Heroes,
Club 8586 nominated
Peñaflorida.
The network’s Blue Ribbon
Panel sifted through 9,000
nominees from over 100
countries, and soon narrowed
down its choices to 28. On
October 1 (October 2 in Manila),
CNN announced its top 10
finalists for its Hero of the Year.
Peñaflorida made the cut.
The word “hero" has been used
so loosely, that these days even
someone who performs a
singular, momentary selfless act
like jumping into a river to save
a child is quickly declared a
hero. But the same public
recognition is not so easily
earned by a person who
performs the same heroic act,
quietly and doggedly from day
to day. Peñaflorida (in white)
pushes for change. Hub Pacheco
file photo Nonetheless, Rezcel
Fajardo has no doubt in her
mind that Peñaflorida is indeed
a hero. One of the co-founders
of DTC, Fajardo says she knew
from the start that her colleague
would be included in the CNN
shortlist. “He is a modern-day
hero. He would use his meager
salary to buy food for the kids.
In fact, he had already pledged
the prize money to the children
he is helping, should he win,"
Fajardo said. But like a real hero
who embodies humility,
Peñaflorida refuses to take the
credit for the honor given by
CNN, much less brag about it. He
says that his inclusion in the
roster of 10 finalists is already
an honor in itself. “This is not
about me," he says. “If the
people vote for me, they are
actually voting for the poor kids
DTC is teaching and the
dedicated volunteers behind
this work." Peñaflorida, fondly
called Kuya F, distributes
biscuits to the kids at a slum
area in Cavite. DTC File
Photo ‘Rainbow after the rain’
Peñaflorida views his inclusion
in CNN’s Top 10 as the
proverbial “rainbow after the
rain" to Filipinos.
On October 2, the country was
still reeling from the weeklong
floods wrought by
storm “Ondoy" when it braced
itself anew to face
typhoon “Pepeng’s" wrath.
Like many other citizens who
volunteered for Ondoy-related
relief operations, Peñaflorida
joined others in packing and
distributing donations to flood-
stricken communities in Cavite.
True to his mission, his
pushcarts turned into relief
carts used to collect donated
goods.
Peñaflorida says that Anderson
Cooper’s announcement of the
Blue Ribbon Panel’s
decision “gave Filipinos a
breath of fresh air, a brief
moment to cheer and celebrate,
to be inspired all the more" to
pursue volunteer work and
rebuild our nation. The many
heroes emerging from the
Ondoy tragedy inspires
Peñaflorida to devote more of
himself to the disaster victims in
his home province. “There are
many people who rose to the
occasion, but their stories
remain untold. It’s an honor to
represent a nation of heroes,"
Peñaflorida says. “Indeed, the
Filipino is worth dying for," he
adds, quoting the famous
words of his personal hero,
Ninoy Aquino. With Filipinos
abuzz with Peñaflorida’s
nomination, the young man
recently visited the World Vision
office one busy afternoon and
was promptly hounded by
media. He now confesses he is
still unaccustomed to being
thrust into the spotlight.
Peñaflorida recalls that he and
other DTC volunteers had to
endure taunts and rejection for
many years, while carrying out
their mission. “We’ve
experienced being degraded
and unwanted, so we just had
to bow our heads low while
they shouted, ‘Here are the
basureros (trash collectors)!’"
Despite the difficulties of
bringing education closer to
impoverished youth,
Peñaflorida finds fulfillment not
in awards and other forms of
official recognition – not even
in the flattery by politicians
who have started courting him
for their election plans – but in
the smiles of the children who
rush to meet him when they
spot his humble pushcart.
Peñaflorida’s success is not
your ordinary rags-to-riches
story. While he is no longer
hounded by the pangs of
hunger and destitution, he
continues to offer himself to the
underprivileged as an example
of a kid who fell victim to
violence driven by poverty and
yet found a way to lift himself
up.
With heroes, the need to
catalyze change always leads to
endless possibilities. Even if the
only possibility at first is to
simply start pushing a pushcart.

''when i choose the life I want...

PRINCIPLE IN LIFE.....its a law in the physical world that every celestial system attains its inevitable decay and ultimate existence, so its imperative for me to hinder this predictable line of destiny by continously producing new belief and sense in appreciating life's dynamic beauty and therefore establishing a state of equilibrium so that the universe will continue on its harmonous and temporal existence.. some people... try to look down on me....all i can say is ..I CHOSE THE LIFE I WANTED TO... no one can ever break that.....