SEED: The world's first Farm Village University

(Business Mentor's notes: Auie Anatalio is a social entrepreneur in Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm, and a teacher at the School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development (SEED Philippines). Inspired by Gawad Kalinga’s vision to end poverty for 5 million families by 2024, her vision is to build social enterprises that will uplift, sustain and spice up the lives of many.)

MANILA - Picture this: the sons and daughters of poor Filipino farmers, construction workers, garbage collectors and tricycle drivers speaking in French, and working with students from the most prestigious schools in Europe.

Interesting, fascinating, and crazy.

These are the usual responses of people whenever I try to describe the place where I work and found love, the first Farm Village University in the world--School for Experiential & Entrepreneurial Development (SEED).

Yes, we are crazy. Crazy in love with the poor. Crazy in love with the country.

THE FIRST FARM VILLAGE UNIVERSITY

SEED Philippines is the first Farm Village University (FVU) to serve as a model for rural development through education and hands-on learning.

The school aims to provide educational opportunities for poor, yet bright and talented, high school graduates from the countryside.

Located in rural Angat, Bulacan at the GK Enchanted Farm, SEED Philippines is Gawad Kalinga’s platform to raise social entrepreneurs, help our local farmers, and create wealth in the rural areas.

It will serve as a pilot that will be replicated to provide quality education to thousands in rural communities across the country.

The spirit of Bayanihan and Walang Iwanan are embedded in SEED’s day to day activities. Our monthly Bayani Challenge is a manifestation of solidarity and heroism.

In addition to this, Values Session classes are spearheaded by the father and founder of Gawad Kalinga, Tony Meloto. The classes highlight the importance of Character and Collaboration, Compassion with Competence and the Courage to Commit.

LEARNING HOW TO TEACH

As a social entrepreneur, I want to gain a better understanding of the poor as well as their plights and dreams. Hence, I decided to get more involved by becoming a mentor and teacher at SEED. One of my most heartbreaking realizations was how little I know about the poor.

Since I grew up in Pandi, Bulacan the municipality next to Angat where the school resides, I assume that I already know them and it would be easy for me to connect with them.

These assumptions affirm how disconnected my world is to theirs. I have had a couple of heartbreaks from the past. Learning how to teach in SEED is probably one of the most painful.

SEED broke my heart when I learned how little they dreamed.

"I grew up in the kind of environment where people are waking up each day just to survive, willing to do anything whether it’s good or bad just to provide a meal and to sustain their vices. I was living in a world of survival. We were living each day without meaning, goal or purpose. We did not even aspire to dream because we thought that dreaming is just a joke, because it is not possible for us to achieve it.

"Yes, we can say, we want to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, or entrepreneurs but at the end of the day, it is just a huge disappointment for us because we are just tricycle drivers, construction workers, salesladies or salesmen, or even prostitutes. We only thought about becoming employees not employers. We thought we were only capable of being slaves,” 17-year-old Vincent Tatel wrote in his essay.

SEED broke my heart when I learned about their struggles.

“I am Marwin Florano. I am just a simple guy living in faith with God. I am a kind of person that will do everything to support my family. While I was in high school, I started working as a farmer at the age of 14 years old.”

At a very young age, Marwin worked several jobs to provide for his family. “For 4 years, I worked as a construction worker and a factory worker on a contractual basis. A five month contract is too short to sustain my family’s financial needs. One day I asked myself, is this really the life that I want?”

LEARNING HOW TO LOVE

More than heartbreaks, SEED taught me how to love. If there is one lesson that this teaching journey has imparted to me, it is how I am capable of love. Not the love for self that the song suggests is the greatest love of all. But the love, which I never thought I am capable of giving.

SEED made me fall in love with their dreams.

“It is really life changing for us. A guy who was not even dreaming big is now partnering with a French guy, building a chicken enterprise. It is really rare for us, for marginalized people to partner or even to live together with the rich people. Because of SEED, I have been experiencing a life full of faith, hope and love,” graduating student Vincent relayed.

SEED made me fall in love with their hopes.

“I want to be the agent of change. I want to help young people like me. My vision is for them not to experience the bitter side of life. I want to encourage them that life comes not only from hope but also from the land. Love the land, love the trees and love God so you will reap thousand folds of blessings.” From being a construction worker, Marwin is now one of the freshmen SEED scholars learning about how to be a catalyst for change through social entrepreneurship.

When I was in college, I had a management professor who believed. Instead of asking us to submit the mission and vision statement of our business plans, he asked us to write our personal vision and dreams. He said that our hearts and purpose would always lead us where we need to go.

I never dreamed of becoming a social entrepreneur nor a teacher. This is not the life that I asked for. But I do not feel that life has cheated me. In fact, life has given me more than I asked for.

SEED gave me a reason to cry, a reason to laugh, a reason to die, a reason to live and a reason to wake up every day dreaming, and believing in their dreams.

“The poor are not problems to be solved, but persons to be loved” – Jose Luis Oquinena, Executive Director, Gawad Kalinga

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For questions and more information, you may contact Armando "Butz" Bartolome by email: philfranchiseguru@gmail.com or on Twitter https://twitter.com/philfranguru. His website is www.gmb.com.ph