By MA. EMICON M. MEDENILLA
June 5, 2010, 11:12am (www.mb.com.ph)

Just when he thought that he was nothing and of no value to this world, Harnin “Kuya Bonn” Manalaysay, more known as the mentor of CNN Hero Efren Peñaflorida, Jr., woke up one morning to realize that he had just been given a second chance at life.

Kuya Bonn has had his share of missteps on the wayward path. In the mid ‘80s, the young Kuya Bonn, tired of what he thought was a God-forsaken life, tried killing himself by drinking muriatic acid.

“O sige, itong buhay ko oh. Walang kuwenta. Kunin mo na.’’ This was the challenge Kuya Bonn posed upon God when he thought he was about to breathe his last.

But miracles do happen. In Kuya Bonn’s case, a miracle was revealed to him when he woke up the morning after he attempted to kill himself and found out that, fortunately, what he ingested was not the lethal muriatic acid but was actually the non-poisonous hydrogen peroxide.

From then, he took the great leap of faith and resolved to change the course of his life.

Clueless he might have been back then on how he could change, he started the year 1985 by simply hearing Mass.

“Outside the church, I saw a group of kids begging for money just for gambling. Tapos nag-away pa sila at kailangan kong lumabas ng simbahan para awatin sila. Ang hindi ko alam, ‘yun ang magiging daan ko sa pagtulong sa marami pang bata na magkaroon ng mabuting buhay,’’ Kuya Bonn recalls.

He then learned that those kids did not how to read and write but could only recognize the sight and smell of money. From buying those kids some bread to eat, Kuya Bonn started spending time teaching them.

MAGIC OF BRAINSTORMING

In 1985, Kuya Bonn founded the Bible Study Boys and Girls Group, with about 12 members. It was later to be called Club 8586, to commemorate those years that Kuya Bonn has had his life-changing epiphanies.

Club 8586 today continues to change the lives of many youths from marginalized communities. A very action-oriented group, its members, under Kuya Bonn’s leadership, never tire of brainstorming on what should be done so as to carry out their developmental projects (like selling bote’t dyaryo as a fund raising project).

Kuya Bonn continues to instill in the new leaders of Club 8586 the magic of brainstorming. He would not dictate the things that should be done but will present the problem and let the young leaders think of realistic solutions.

A baby of Club 8586 is Efren Peñaflorida’s Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) which promotes education in a creative way, through the Kariton Klasrum.

Another spin-off group, Mind Your Rights (M.Y. Rights), headed by 17-year old Emanuel Bagual, educates the young and their parents on children’s rights and aims to put an end to the cycle of abuse especially in marginalized communities.

CHANGING LIVES

Sustaining Club 8586 for Kuya Bonn was a difficult choice, he admits. He gave his full-time job as a professor to spend more time for the club.

A lot of people discouraged him but that didn’t stop him from continuing his advocacies especially when he sees the lives of young children becoming better.

Just as how Peñaflorida was humble enough not to own the glory of the prestigious CNN Hero title, so is his mentor who has always emphasized the importance of humility in one’s character. “Kung ano ang ginagawa mong mabuti, hindi mo na kailangan pang i-broadcast,” Kuya Bonn would always say.

Kuya Bonn can’t stop from hoping that the Philippines will be better in time. He is positive that the “people development” which Club 8586 promotes will disprove to society that the youth who have lost their way do not have a chance to be better.

“There are diamonds in the rough” he would say. “Change should start from our own selves, and who knows, if one by one the people realize that, they will start changing themselves and soon, our world would be change.’’

Twenty five years after its founding, Club 8686 continues to change the lives of many…and it’s still counting.