prime people 쐽 THE STRAITS TIMES FRIDAY, APRIL 30 2010 PAGE A20
The idea of Asians ending poverty in
Building
heaven on
earth for
the needy
Music teacher finds harmony in
helping to combat poverty in Asia
BY LEE SIEW HUA
SENIOR WRITER
M
S AILEEN Ong’s journey to
the non-profit world was
born in a near-death experi-
ence. Twelve years ago, her
husband’s errant golf ball
smashed into her face.
“My nose was just hanging. Blood was
pouring out,” recounts Ms Ong, 56, chair-
man of the Singapore offshoot of Gawad
Kalinga, a global poverty reduction group
that transforms slums into productive
communities.
She underwent 41/2 hours of recon-
structive surgery after the trauma at Lagu-
na National Golf and Country Club,
where she and her lawyer husband Albert
Yeo, 68, had often enjoyed nine holes of
golf in the evening.
Her cosmetic surgeon said the ball had
landed on the “best” place on her face as
the soft tissue was reparable. “I could
have died if I was hit in the temple, two
inches away.”
The ball could have blinded or disfig-
ured her. It could have damaged her brain
had it struck her skull.
The gruesome accident was a turning
point in her life.
“God gave my life back. He woke me
up from my years of marriage bliss when
I focused on my family,” says the Catho-
lic. She had remarried about four years
earlier in 1993 at the age of 40 after a
failed first marriage.
From the time of the accident on, the
music teacher, who trained at London’s
Trinity College of Music, searched for her
mission.
She returned to church voluntary
work. Among many other roles, she
chaired the liturgical music committee
for an archdiocese of 30 churches. She al-
so produced a concert of 1960s music and
rock ’n roll to raise funds for hospices.
A few years later, in August 2006, she
heard about Gawad Kalinga (GK) from
friends in church. She was then aged 52
and the mother of four young adults.
She was amazed to learn that GK,
formed in the Philippines in 1995, could
build a house for just $2,000 in the poor-
er parts of South-east Asia.
Each modest home of 200 sq ft to 250
sq ft has a toilet, kitchen, concrete floor
and access to water. Brightly painted, it
sits in an eco-site of 20 to 100 homes
with landscaped gardens.
“For the price of a computer or design-
er bag, you return dignity to a man. Then
everything falls into place for the fami-
ly,” she says.
She googled the GK movement and lat-
er watched the videos. “I drifted between
joy and grief,” she says.
Ms Ong was inspired by the work of Gawad Kalinga, a Philippine organisation which aims to
abolish poverty for five million families by 2024. ST PHOTO: DESMOND FOO
From music to charity work
MS AILEEN Ong, 56, is the chairman of the Gawad
Kalinga Hope Initiative (GKHi). Registered in Singapore
last July, GKHi is the Asian hub of a global poverty
reduction movement.
Born to a wealthy Peranakan family in Malacca, Ms
Ong studied at London’s Trinity College of Music from
1973 to 1975, then taught piano, voice and choral
conducting for 30 years in Singapore. From 1981 to
1988, she also ventured into a Peranakan food catering
business and opened Rumah Melaka at Far East Plaza.
She gave it up when her third child was born.
In 2006, her Catholic church friends introduced her
to Gawad Kalinga, which means to “give care” in
Tagalog. The group was formed in the Philippines in
1995 and transforms slums into beautiful communities.
Ms Ong has given up her music teaching career and
scaled down her middle-class lifestyle to focus on GKHi,
which expands Gawad Kalinga’s work into Asia.
She is married to lawyer Albert Yeo, 68, and they
have four adult children aged 25 to 34. Three are from
her first marriage and one is from his earlier union.
Poverty reduction group Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines has built
more than 2,000 villages, or communities. PHOTO: GAWAD KALINGA
쏆 using the GK model in Chennai this year.
BASIC NEEDS FULFILLED
“For the price of a computer or designer bag, you return
dignity to a man. Then everything falls into place for the
family.”
Ms Aileen Ong, on learning about Gawad Kalinga’s $2,000 houses
A TURNING POINT
“I saw a child in a slum in abject poverty on my first trip to
Manila. My whole life flashed back. It all made sense. He gave
the biggest grin, like he was saying: ‘Hi! Welcome to my
world’.”
Ms Ong, on starting the Gawad Kalinga Hope Initiative in Singapore
Asia within a generation appealed power-
fully to her. GK aims to abolish poverty
for five million families by 2024.
It was a revelation, too, that the poor
could be development partners with Ga-
wad Kalinga, which means to “give care”
in Tagalog. The poor receive help in nutri-
tion, health, education and life skills,
when GK steps in. Delinquents and drop-
outs go on to college, she found.
Two months later, she met GK founder
Antonio Meloto, a Filipino former busi-
nessman, when he gave a talk on combat-
ing poverty at St Teresa’s Church in Sin-
gapore.
At his invitation, she visited GK
projects in the Philippines in January
2007. She has returned to volunteer 27
more times since.
Sharing her love for children, Mr Melo-
to encouraged her to focus on nutrition
for malnourished pre-schoolers, who
were often tuberculosis sufferers.
Without hesitation, Ms Ong created a
nutrition programme for 540 children
with her daughter and godson, both well-
ness coaches. Another two months later,
President S R Nathan launched her feed-
ing programme in Baseco on Manila’s out-
skirts, with a one-million-peso cheque
(S$31,800) from five Christian Brothers
Schools in Singapore, including St
Joseph’s Institution Junior.
Back home, she rented out her Mount
Faber penthouse and moved to an apart-
ment about half its size in the same area.
“Everything scaled down. My maid
left. I gave up my 30-year career in mu-
sic,” she relates, adding that her family
was very supportive.
“Those born into better circumstances
are privileged to be able to give to those
who were not,” says Ms Ong, who was
born into a wealthy Peranakan family in
Malacca.
Starting humbly, the family accrued
its wealth in property and commodities
over six generations. Alongside, its philan-
thropic zeal grew as well. Her late father,
a Taoist, gave generously to educational
and religious causes, including mosques
and the Catholic La Salle schools.
Her mother was a board member of a
home for abandoned babies in Malacca.
“I always remember the smell of urine,
powder and milk when I was a child,” she
says.
She feels that her family’s values over-
lap with GK’s spirit of caring. “When I
work in the community, I think, This is
how my family started,” she says.
“I saw a child in a slum in abject pover-
ty on my first trip to Manila. My whole
life flashed back. It all made sense. He
gave the biggest grin, like he was saying:
‘Hi! Welcome to my world’.”
This was one of several epiphanies
that prompted her to start up the Gawad
Kalinga Hope Initiative or GKHi in Singa-
pore. It was registered in July last year,
and operates as a regional hub to expand
GK’s work into Asia.
GKHi taps into Singapore’s status as a
successful development story and global
economic hub. It harnesses the nation’s
expertise in environmental development,
food technology, life sciences and educa-
tion for world communities.
The timing is right, she says. “There is
so much awareness that Singapore has to
grow by being socially responsible.”
She involves the new generation and
corporations with a regional presence.
GKHi has partnerships with the poly-
technics, tertiary institutions, Catholic
schools and international schools, includ-
ing the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public
Policy. “My dream is to have a GK Club
in every school,” she says.
About 1,000 civic-minded students
have gone on internships, immersions
and research projects. Some make second
or third trips, and it is such long-term en-
gagement that GK prizes.
Academic partners and students take
on research projects – say, urban farm-
ing, alternative construction materials
and social entrepreneurship – to improve
the quality of life for people in need.
In 2007, many CHIJ Kellock primary
school girls pledged $1 a month from
their pocket money for a feeding pro-
gramme.
So in various ways, Singapore volun-
teers have helped build some of the 2,000
GK communities in the Philippines, Cam-
bodia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Ms Ong is also exploring initiatives
with firms, so they can become partners
in building communities. The GK move-
ment does not have its own fund-raising
campaign but works with corporate
friends like Coca-Cola and AIG.
Firms sponsor three million pesos to
build 20 to 30 houses, and have offered
technology, paint, expertise and volun-
teers.
Meanwhile, one early fruit is GKHi’s
link with India’s Tripura Foundation,
which aims to end extreme poverty. The
non-profit body aims to launch a village
She is also involved in the GK Global
Summit, which will be held in Singapore
in June for 1,500 global partners, volun-
teers and GK workers. Ngee Ann Polytech-
nic and National University of Singapore
are the co-hosts.
“GKHi is now the pivot of my life,”
she says. “The poorest of the poor de-
serve the best to become the best.”
Though she still has a titanium plate
under her left cheek, and only 60 per cent
of sensation in her face as a major nerve
was severed, her face is animated as she
says: “I found a pearl of great price in
GK. To me, it’s building heaven on
earth.”
siewhua@sph.com.sg