Start of Something Good

April 24 - 30, 2006
Gawad Kalinga Dingalan Village


Every summer, there are builds in some Gawad Kalinga sites and usually it is a week long program. DLSU offered this program to its students. For some reason, the group of Maria was assigned to that GK village also. Their group arrived at the area one the second day of the build which is a Tuesday. Maria was one of the youngest people there. She was just an incoming 4th year High School student while the rest were all in College. All of the people who volunteered had their own reasons. Most of them or probably all wanted to be part of the GK 1MB (Gawad Kalinga Isang Milyong Bayani). They all wanted to bring change in their country.

The volunteers were paired up and assigned on a particular house which will be their 'home' for the whole week. They were also assigned randomly to a group. Anyway, the volunteers had the chance to mingle with one another. Although they had their own circle when they got there, making new friends wasn't too hard for them. Darhyl from the DLSU group was so friendly to the 'new group' especially to Zyra and Maria. Later did Maria found out that Darhyl likes Zyra. Maria didn't bother and instead took advantage of Darhyl being nice to them.

On the last two days of the build, the group decided to just have fun. On the 6th day, they went to a beach nearby. A few people including Zyra, Maria and Darhyl came up with a game on the shore. They all sat down beside each other forming a human chain They faced the waves head on which made them roll over each other. Maria rolled over Darhyl and injured him cause they were seated next to each other. But the game continued. After a very fun yet tiring day at the beach, they headed back to GK site. On their way back, Maria and Darhyl sat next to each other at the back of the truck, everyone else was there. Maria and Darhyl had the chance to have a personal conversation. They even talked about their families. That night, that conversation, changed their lives. Who knew that it was the start of something good? They started liking each other.


On the last day of the build, they went to the waterfalls. They went hiking just to get there. Darhyl of course acted as a gentleman as he helped everyone climb the rocks. The waterfalls was beautiful. A few minutes after they got there, Darhyl made a way to be alone with Maria. But Maria's too shy so when she was invited to go down the waterfalls, she brought Zyra with her. Anyway, they stayed down the waterfalls for a while and then Zyra left the two alone. Maria and Darhyl were alone and talked about anything under the sun. When the others noticed that the two were having an 'alone time', they broke it and teased both of them.

On their way back to Manila, Darhyl sat next to Maria. He even brought Maria to the bus station where Maria's parents were there to pick her up. They exchanged cell numbers, Darhyl of course initiated. Was he too fast?