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How I discovered the Philippines through the eyes of the world

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Auie Anatalio

<div><em>(Business Mentor&#x27;s note: Auie Anatalio is 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, and sustain the lives of many.)</em></div><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/lifestyle2/08/20/phil1.jpg"/></figure></div><p>MANILA - I get to travel the world every day. On some mornings, I experience the warmth of Malaysia and on others, the beauty of France. Throughout the days I learn about the rich culture of Japan, the hopes of Colombia, and the optimistic dreams of America.</p><p>All of these adventures take place in my beautiful home called the Gawad Kalinga Enchanted Farm, where the excellence of the East and the West work hand in hand to bring out the best from the least in the Philippines. Located in Angat, Bulacan is this 40-hectare Farm Village University where diversity brews, from different ethnicities to cultures and beliefs.</p><p>It still amazes me every day how we can work and live together in solidarity. It must be the universal languages of faith, hope, and love. Whatever it is, it taught me that there is something deep within our human nature that binds all of us together.</p><p>I took my time to get to know five amazing souls from different ends of the world who came to the Philippines to discover, to serve and to learn. Their answers suggested otherwise that they came here to do more.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/lifestyle2/08/20/phil2.jpg"/></figure></div><div><strong>THE AMERICAN WHO WEAVES HOPES AND DREAMS</strong></div><p>Chris Torrance is a 35-year-old American who worked for an agricultural development project with a non-government organization in Tanzania. He visited the Philippines two years ago to attend a friend’s wedding, but ended up calling the farm his home. Today, Chris is the farm’s lead social entrepreneur for a silkworm production company, Ambension Silk, and a Global Society professor in SEED Philippines.</p><div><strong>Who is the Filipino?</strong></div><p>“The Filipino is someone who hasn’t given the opportunity to turn his hearts and passion into action. Filipinos need to get out of the poverty thinking. It is possible, and people need to know that.”</p><div><strong>What is your vision?</strong></div><p>“I am not here just to make money,” Chris said, explaining that money is not the main reason he started an enterprise. Ambension Silk envisions revitalizing the textile industry of the Philippines.</p><p>“Ideally, we want to build a system that will allow me to step away and let the team manage the enterprise. It is not about my glory, but building something that is going to work,” Chris added.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/lifestyle2/08/20/phil3.jpg"/></figure></div><div><strong>THE COLOMBIAN ON A LIFE LONG MISSION</strong></div><p>Rodrigo Martinez is a 55-year-old Colombian-Canadian who works for Cuso International, a non-profit organization based in Canada that mobilizes volunteer professionals who work for local partners. With a pocket full of life stories, a sit-down conversation of 30 minutes with Rodrigo is will leave one hanging.</p><div><strong>What are the things that you love most about the Filipino?</strong></div><p>“Their sense of family, humility, hospitality, and capacity to smile and love even in the worst living conditions.”</p><div><strong>Why are you here?</strong></div><p>“Growing up in Colombia, I thought I knew poverty. I realized that there is so much beyond that.” Rodrigo’s journey in the Philippines is his first step to a 10-year career shift plan, which is to learn the best approaches in dealing with poverty and relating his lessons to give back to Colombia. His vision for the Philippines is to be a “corrupt less, poor less country that has learned about the genius of the poor and the poverty of wealth.”</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/lifestyle2/08/20/phil4.jpg"/></figure></div><div><strong>THE CANADIAN WHO TRAVELED TO SERVE</strong></div><p>Shona Taner is a 44-year-old Canadian who, like Rodrigo, is a volunteer from Cuso International, working as a replication adviser for SEED. Hands down one of the most sincere, dedicated and hard-working teammates I have ever worked with.</p><div><strong>What made you decide to work in the Philippines?</strong></div><p>“Out of all the posts, the Enchanted Farm has the most intriguing position anywhere in the world and the organization is totally unique. My country has a social safety net. I recognize how privilege is my life in Canada that is why I want to learn and to experience on the ground how to help eliminate poverty and create opportunities for the under privileged.”</p><div><strong>What is by far the biggest takeaway that this journey taught you?</strong></div><p>“You can make a difference in small ways, you don’t always have to aim for the moon.”</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/lifestyle2/08/20/phil5.jpg"/></figure></div><div><strong>THE FRENCH WHO CAME TO LEARN</strong></div><p>Lauriane Pannier is a 23-year-old French student taking up entrepreneurship. She works as an intern for our Business Development team. The farm is blessed to have her enthusiasm and diligence. A go-getter and empathetic lady she is, I am certain that she will be a successful yet humble social entrepreneur someday.</p><div><strong>What are the biggest takeaways from your internship stint?</strong></div><p>“Filipinos taught me how to live in the moment. I learned that when you give to someone, you actually receive more than you offer.”</p><div><strong>Who is the Filipino?</strong></div><p>“Filipinos are very welcoming and they have a colonialism spirit. I don’t like it when I feel like people treat me differently because I am white. I came here to learn and not just to give. What Filipinos need to understand is that it is not us who will save their world, but the Filipinos who will save themselves.”</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/lifestyle2/08/20/phil6.jpg"/></figure></div><div><strong>THE MALAYSIAN WHO DISCOVERED HERSELF IN THE PHILIPPINES</strong></div><p>Izabella Tan, a 16-year-old Malaysian, arrived on January 2016 to explore the goodness that grows in the land and people of the Enchanted Farm. A free-spirited brave young soul who left the comforts of home and embraced the journey of self-awareness and discovery.</p><div><strong>What made you stay?</strong></div><p>“I have come to believe that maybe we are meant to be in places we never knew existed,” Bella explained. “I did not really expect much, so it was a pleasant surprise to have found that I could build relationships with the people I did, do things I had never imagined could be done, and gain the knowledge and experiences that I would not have gotten if I did not take that leap of faith.”</p><div><strong>What is your vision for the Philippines?</strong></div><p>“Not just for the Filipinos but for everyone to have an understanding of one another because, despite the differences in ages, social classes and genders. We all are part of a universal family, and this is what I find that the farm made me realize. We should all stand up for one another, for the love of our shared humanity. In the Philippines, I really hope to see poverty eliminated from their minds before their pockets.”</p><p>A foreigner is a person who was born in or who came from a different country. They are supposed to be foreign to our culture, foreign to our history and foreign to our people. But in reality, some of them understand and love the Philippines more than most of us do.</p><p>I travel the world every day, and they make me fall in love with the Philippines more and more each day.</p><p>---</p><p>For questions and more information, you may contact Armando &quot;Butz&quot; Bartolome by email: <a href="mailto:philfranchiseguru@gmail.com">philfranchiseguru@gmail.com</a> or on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/philfranguru" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/philfranguru</a>. His website is <a href="www.gmb.com.ph" target="_blank">www.gmb.com.ph</a></p>

<p>Auie Anatalio, a teacher at the School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development, talks to five foreigners who came to the Philippines to discover, to serve and to learn.</p>

Auie Anatalio, a teacher at the School for Experiential and Entrepreneurial Development, talks to five foreigners who came to the Philippines to discover, to serve and to learn.