Kindness Revolution Act 1

As I write this, I'm sitting in an office in Newham, in London. Don't ask. Explanations will follow. Maybe.

This is Lara.

Lara is a good friend from Kule and, aside from her many talents, skills, presitigious qualifications, etcetera, she also spends her time with a group called ONE. ONE stands for One Nation Empowered, and her group envisions vibrant, thriving communities that are able to vision their own ideal goals for themselves and put them in place. Rather than having people just receive help, ONE seems to be part of a growing way of thought in developmental work (which I subscribe to) that we need to empower people to help themselves. Only then is change truly sustainable and fulfulling.

Just before I left Manila, it appeared my attempts at fund-raising had gotten to Lara and she asked me if I could help their group with an activity, and she'd in turn help me with my own *ahem* activities.

ONE was in a barangay in Diliman. They had conducted a visioning exercise wherein kids from around the community had drawn up posters of their ideal community. A winner would be announced but, more importantly, their group would be around to help that community put these plans into place. I was late, naturally, so I wasn't much help, but Lara was still kind enought to buy two Kindness Revolution tickets off me (and I have the picture to prove it haha!)

It's nice to see groups like this around, put together by young professionals taking time out to do something for their community. Apathy and incessant complaining while not being involved in the mainstream of society seems to be the hallmark of the Pinoy yuppies of our generation. Seeing a group like this in action, even if they're just starting out, is nice; it cuts through the layers and layers of cynicism living in Manila has built up in me. Kaya salamat Lara. And not just for the help with my fund-raising.

ONE has a bunch of other activities planned, if I'm not mistaken. They didn't have a website up yet when I left, but maybe they do now (Kaya Lara, mag-comment ka, and post a link. I'm ensuring at least one comment to this post LOL!)

And maybe you're tired of just reading about other people working to change the community. It may not be with ONE, or with the programme I'm on (more on that another time), but there are tons of volunteering opportunities out there and these days, all you have to do is type stuff into a search engine. So get off your ass and do something!