this used to be my playground

i volunteered this village for sfc-meralco's gk tour.

i am always amazed by how God created the world and i also wonder why i was chosen to be a Filipino. He gave me a wonderful country full of kind-hearted people and an unending array of colored landscapes to see. as a traveller, i seek these "normal" tourist destinations to view and experience what they have to offer. and so far they were all journeys that far exceeded my expectations.

keeping beautiful experiences to myself is hard for me, that's probably why i have an online journal for the whole world to see. when i discovered this gawad kalinga village just a few hundred steps away from our place, i immediately sent word to my friends. as the song goes, "this used to be my playground", what was just a barren riverbank where we had our picnics and dragonfly catching sessions is now a relocation site for the poor of marikina. i wanted everyone to catch a glimpse of this little paradise i discovered.

far from being the usual relocation site, it's not an unwanted piece of land far away from concrete roads and decent job opportunities. this is not the relocation site where the government traditionally transfers squatters to so the unending squat-demolish-relocate-sell-squat cycle may not happen here as you would have expected.

the camacho relocation site in marikina sits on the banks of the marikina river just across the exclusive ayala heights subdivision of quezon city. there's electricity, there's water, roads are paved, jobs are provided and the kids go to school. the rich and poor share the same view and breathe the same air. the only difference is that people in camacho have smiles prettier than the rest of the world. you should see them first hand to understand what i'm talking about.