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| Corazon Triumpo claps her hands with joy after a housing lot she and her husband specifically prayed for is assigned to her. |
Six families who used to be street dwellers
in Manila can now start to build their own homes after being assigned housing
lots at the Kaibigan Village 6 in Cabanatuan City. The families are beneficiaries of the
Kaibigan Ministry of the Center for Community Transformation (CCT) Group of
Ministries. (Kaibigan is the Filipino word for friend. At CCT it is also used to refer to street dwellers.)
The families were each allotted 500 square
meters of land on which to build their homes and raise vegetables and poultry
or other animals for food.
The distribution of the lots was done
during a thanksgiving celebration on December 30, 2014 of members of the Kaibigang Maaasahan
Multi-purpose Cooperative (KMMC), the first cooperative in the Philippines
composed largely of former or current street dwellers.
Former street dwellers qualified to receive
a lot are legally married couples who have been KMMC members for at least five
years and who were not subject to any disciplinary action during that period. Workers
of the KMMC construction services unit will help the couples build their homes.
Ruth Callanta, CCT president and founder, said
that the Kaibigan Ministry is the answer to a long-held deep and personal desire to reach out to street dwellers, and the answer to prayer during
a visit to a prayer facility in South Korea in 2001. She said the Biblical
basis for the ministry is Prophet Ezekiel’s vision in which a valley of dry
bones came together, developed flesh and skin, began breathing and stood up as
a living army. “The way I understand this vision is that street dwellers will
be provided with food and livelihood, will be taught the Word of God, will come
to know the Living God, and will have new life.”
She also recounted how the Kaibigan
Ministry officially started with a feeding program for street dwellers in
November 2005, then moved on to disciple men and provide them with jobs which
began with their building of a fence around a piece of property in
Tagaytay. She said that as skills of the men in painting,
plumbing, and carpentry grew, they also worked on
construction projects in Magdalena, Laguna, and built two buildings at the
Tagaytay Retreat and Training Center.
Mrs. Callanta explained that the piece of
land that will soon be a residential village for former street dwellers is just one of nine
non-contiguous lots donated to the Kaibigan Ministry, beginning with a
one-hectare piece of land referred to now as KV (Kaibigan Village) 1. “The Lord
showed me that this could be the new home of street dwellers.” She said that Kaibigan Villages 1 to 5 and 8
and 9 are to be used for the common raising of cash crops or livestock, while
Kaibigan Villages 6 and 7 will be for housing. A portion of
the properties will also be used as memorial plots.
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| Ruth Callanta, CCT president and founder, recounts the history of the Kaibigan Ministry. |
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| Dennis and Grace listen intently as qualifications for home ownership at the Kaibigan Village are explained. They hope to be among the next group of couples to receive a housing lot. |
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| Arlene Diel reads names of Kaibigans eligible to receive a housing lot. |
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| Zaldy Lugay, head of the Kaibigang Maaasahan Multi-purpose Cooperative Construction Services, displays a vicinity map of Kaibigan Village 6 subdivided into housing lots measuring 1000 square meters. The village will eventually be home to 46 families each assigned 500 square meters on which to build their homes and raise livestock and vegetables. |
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| Edwin Agcopra, with his son by his side, draws the number of the lot where he can soon build a home for his family, then watches as Zaldy Lugay marks the spot on a vicinity map. Edwin, a transformed former street dweller, is proof that the vicious cycles of poverty, crime, and homelessness can be broken by the power of God. |
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| KMMC and KMI management, staff, and beneficiaries,and Ruth Callanta (below) pray that the residents of Kaibigan Village 6 will be a blessing to their surrounding community and will bring glory to God. |
