By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
His expression of gratitude comes in the form of a wooden pushcart loaded with crayons, books, pens, clothes, jugs of water, a blackboard and a Philippines flag.
Every Saturday, the pushcart goes to the public cemetery, market and dumps in Cavite City where 28-year-old Efren Peñaflorida has been leading teenagers, for more than a decade now, in teaching street children basic literacy skills and values to save them from illegal drugs and prevent them from joining gangs.
A victim of gangs when he was in high school, Peñaflorida knows intrinsically what poverty can do: Take children out of school and lead them right into violence.
Born to a father who worked as a tricycle driver and to a mother who was a laundrywoman, he managed to finish college through the World Vision Child Sponsorship Programme.
Very early on in life though, Peñaflorida almost lost his chance at receiving an education. His parents had told him, being the middle child among three siblings, he had to drop out of grade school and let his elder brother finish high school.
But a community volunteer helped Peñaflorida connect with World Vision when he was in Grade 5. As a result of his good grades, his sponsor financed his education until he finished a two-year diploma course in computer technology.
“I realised why I was created”
Through the pushcart, Peñaflorida is giving back. “I realised why I was created and I want to fulfil this mission,” he said.
Peñaflorida is referring to Dynamic Teen Company (DTC), which he and his classmates at Cavite National High School established in August 1997.
The company began as a simple gathering of some 30 schoolmates as an alternative to the numerous teenager gangs which got involved in riots at that time.
Club 8586, a volunteer group based in the city, helped Peñaflorida set up DTC when he got into high school.
“We asked ourselves what caused the creation of gangs and we found that most of their members were teenagers who lived in the slums.”
Hungry for More
The group initially brought food for the children, getting funds from selling junk they had collected, but the problem was more than just empty stomachs.
DTC started to grow and soon, members decided to start literacy classes every Saturday. To carry books and a blackboard, the group bought a bike with a sidecar.
But once in a while, the tires would run flat and the chains would fall off, so a high school senior Emanuel Bagual, the current president of DTC, proposed that the group use a pushcart instead.
Being with street children most of the time, Peñaflorida felt that his calling was to be a teacher. In 2006, he completed a degree in education. He now works as a high school teacher in a private school.
We are all heroes
Peñaflorida’s pushcart has earned him recognition, the most recent being the 2009 CNN Hero of the Year. CNN gets nominees around the world to be featured as a hero—an ordinary individual with an extraordinary impact—each week.
Peñaflorida received his greatest gift when CNN aired its feature on him on his birthday on March 5. However, his parents were not able to watch the live broadcast and his live interview with journalist Larry King. They did not have cable TV at home.
Peñaflorida also knows he could give more if he earned more. To buy food and school supplies for the street children, DTC depends on the commitment of its high school members for their fund-raising activities and donations.
But he says, “I have faith that the Lord will provide.”
He beat nine other contenders from different countries after getting the highest number of online votes. More than 9,000 nominations were sent in by viewers, and more than 2.75 million votes were cast for seven weeks, according to the CNN website.
Peñaflorida has also received a total of US$125,000 to continue his work with DTC.
In his acceptance speech that was delivered to 3,000 people, Peñaflorida encouraged the crowd to unleash “the hero in you.”
"Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man and woman of different colours, shapes and sizes. We are one great tapestry," Peñaflorida shared. "Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need.”
Lives Touched
DTC members (there are about 2,000 of them) hold three education sessions every Saturday. About a hundred kids join each session and they are grouped according to age.
The volunteers not only teach street children how to read, write and count, but also proper hygiene. They would bathe some of the children and give them clothes.
In a country where many things go wrong, Peñaflorida believes, “We are the change that we seek.”
“I hope other youth organisations will have their own pushcarts in other parts of the country,” he says.
Many children still need guidance and help, according to Peñaflorida. This is the reason DTC has just built its second wooden pushcart.
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