MANILA, Philippines—His expression of gratitude comes in the form of a wooden pushcart loaded with crayons, books, pens, clothes, jugs of water, a blackboard and a Philippine flag.

Every Saturday, the pushcart goes to the public cemetery, market and dump in Cavite City where 28-year-old Efren Peñaflorida has been leading teenagers, for more than a decade now, in teaching street children basic literacy skills and values to save them from illegal drugs and prevent them from joining gangs.

Peñaflorida’s pushcart has earned him recognition, the most recent being a citation from international news agency CNN as a modern-day hero. CNN gets nominees around the world to be featured as a hero—an ordinary individual with an extraordinary impact—each week.

Himself a victim of gangs when he was in high school, Peñaflorida knows by heart what poverty can do: Snatch children out of school and lead them to violence.

Born to a father who worked as a tricycle driver and to a mother who was a laundrywoman, he managed to finish college through the help of other people.

Giving back

Through the pushcart, Peñaflorida is giving back. “I realized why I was created and I want to fulfill this mission,” he said.

Peñaflorida is referring to Dynamic Teen Company (DTC), which he and his classmates at Cavite National High School formed in August 1997.

The company began as a simple gathering of some 30 schoolmates as an alternative to the numerous teenager gangs which got involved in riots at that time.

But Peñaflorida himself is surprised how DTC grew into a group that now has 2,000 active teenager members all over Cavite province.

“We asked ourselves what causes the creation of gangs and we found that most of their members are teenagers who live in the slums,” he said.

In its early years, DTC visited children in the community where Peñaflorida himself grew: The town’s dump.

More than empty stomachs

The group initially brought food for the children, getting funds from selling junks they collect, but the problem was more than just empty stomachs.

DTC started to grow and soon, members decided to start literacy classes every Saturday. To carry books and a blackboard, the group bought a bike with a sidecar.

But once in a while, the tires would run flat and the chains fall off, so high school senior Emanuel Bagual, the current president of DTC, proposed that the group use a pushcart instead.

Peñaflorida almost had to drop out of grade school. His parents had told him, being the middle child among three siblings, that he had to give way to his elder brother who was finishing high school.

But a community volunteer helped Peñaflorida get a scholarship from the World Vision, a group which matches sponsors to needy children, when he was in Grade 5.

Thanks to his good grades, his sponsor from Australia agreed to finance his education until he finished a two-year diploma course on computer technology.

Club 8586, a volunteer group based in the city, also helped Peñaflorida in his studies and in setting up the DTC when he got into high school.

Calling

Being with street children most of the time, Peñaflorida felt that his calling was to be a teacher. He went back to school and completed a degree in education in 2006.

He knows that he could earn more if he tried his luck working abroad. He now works as a high school teacher in a private school in nearby Bacoor town.

Although Peñaflorida received his greatest gift when CNN aired its feature on him on his birthday on March 5, his parents were not able to watch the live broadcast and his live interview with journalist Larry King. They did not have cable TV at home.

Peñaflorida also knows he could give more if he earned more. To buy food and school supplies for the street children, DTC just depends on the commitment of its high school members for their fund-raising activities and donations.

But he said: “I have faith that the Lord will provide.”

He may not have much money, but he and the teenagers joining the DTC have their time and commitment to share.

At first, Peñaflorida’s family was not excited about his project. “You are just wasting your time,” he recalled what his parents had told him.

He could have spent time studying or finding part-time jobs to help the family instead of serving other people.

But now, even his youngest sister Glenis May is a proud volunteer of DTC.

Lives touched

Peñaflorida measures the success of the project not only by the enthusiasm of DTC members, who have pledged to spend their Saturdays teaching street children, but also by the young lives that the wooden pushcart has touched.

One of the children who attended the weekly sessions at the dump was Michael, who sniffed rugby and stole power wires when he was 7. Now 16, Michael is now a volunteer of DTC.

He knows better and regrets the way he spent his childhood. He wants to make sure other children will not make the same mistakes again.

“I found my goal in life,” Michael said.

Michael and the other members hold three sessions every Saturday. One group goes to the public market and another goes to the dump in the morning. In the afternoon, a group goes to the cemetery.

About a hundred kids join each session and they are grouped according to age.

The volunteers not only teach street children how to read, write and count, but also proper hygiene. They would bathe some of the children and give them clothes. They also instill faith among them.

Change

“You are the change that you dream,” Peñaflorida would tell the teenagers who join DTC.

In a country where many things go wrong, he said: “We are the change that we seek.”

The pushcart and the teenagers behind them have been reaping recognition, too. In 2008, DTC was cited as among the 10 accomplished youth organizations in the Philippines.

If the attention he and DTC have been getting makes Peñaflorida happy, it is because of the opportunity to inspire others.

“I hope other youth organizations will have their own pushcarts in other parts of the country,” he said.

Many children still need guidance and help, Peñaflorida said. This was the reason the DTC had just built its second wooden pushcart.

The Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) aims to uplift the lives of underprivileged children younger than themselves through education. Armed with only a pushcart full of books and other educational materials, DTC brings the classroom to children and educate in slum areas, dumpsites and even in the cemetery.

Formed in 1997 in Cavite by Efren Peñaflorida, its mission then was to keep the youth away from trouble and vices.

“Nakita namin yung pinaka-ugat ng problema na nanggagaling sa mga slum areas kung saan ginu-groom yung mga future gang members, gang leaders, so kaya nag-start kami noong 1999 na mag reach out sa mga bata sa slum area, para dun pa lang ma-guide na namin sila na di sila sumama sa mga ibang klaseng activities,” said Peñaflorida.

Born to tricycle driver Efren Sr. and housewife Lucila, Penaflorida grew up near the city’s dumpsite where he spent most of his younger years playing and swimming in the garbage beach.

Hardworking and intelligent, Penaflorida’s commitment is to improve the standard of public secondary education. For more than four years, he has been giving free tutorial classes to high school and college students.

Penaflorida exudes the qualities of an everyday hero. His life would seem ordinary, but the tasks he undertakes are extraordinary earning the respect of his peers and even parents whom he helped in the past.

There was a time when he skipped a class to convince a peer to abandon his attempt to kill himself. He also stood up against an abusive teacher and brought the complaint to the City Schools Division Superintendent to protect his classmates.

Penaflorida had his share of bad experiences while growing up near the slums. He had fallen prey to bullies and solvent kids in the area.

By the age of 16, he knew he had to do something to change all these. Together with some classmates, they started DTC.

Today, Penaflorida wants to address the growing issue of juvenile delinquents. He also wants to address moral, and the values of education of today’s youth.

Michael Advincula is a living example of the group’s positive work. The organization was able to help Advincula turn his life around for the better. Advincula used to be a thief and an Akyat Bahay gang member. Now, he is a full time volunteer and scholar of DTC.

“Nagbago po yung buhay ko dahil sa pagtutuok nila sa akin. Tinuro nila lahat ng pwede kong malaman, na dahil po doon nakita ko na kaya po pa lang tumulong at tulungan yung mga tulad ko po. Dati sa madilim na parte ng buhay, sila po nag-angat ng buhay ko,” said Advincula.

Hopeful

Meanwhile, DTC president Eman Bagual is full of hopes. Bagual grew up in a slum area and never thought that his life would finally have a purpose.

“Sabi ko siguro pati ako mayroon akong pagbabago pwedeng gawin. Kaya hinanap ko yung paraan kung paano po ako makakatulong at nakita ko yung paraan na ito sa Dynamic,” Bagual said.

Bagual is happy with the sense of fulfillment he derives from helping other children.

“Kung babalikan ko yung dati kong buhay, malayong gagawin ko ito. Pero ngayon, ang sarap po sa pakiramdan, kung dati isa akong taong pasaway sa lipunan, ngayon isa na po sa taong kahit papano po nakaktulong na ako sa kanila. Kaya yung fulfillment, yung joy pa na meron ako talagang yun po nararamdaman ko ngayon sa pag-tulong sa kanila,” he said.

Bayaning Pilipino

DTC’s good deeds were noticed. In fact, the group won the Gawad Geny Lopez Bayaning Pilipino award in 2007 for its mission of educating children through its mobile classrooms in depressed areas, cemeteries and even in dumpsites in Cavite.

A year and a half later, it’s their founder’s turn to be nominated as the first Filipino to be included in the international search, “CNN Heroes”. According to CNN’s website, CNN Heroes is a search for “people driven to exceptional achievement in service to others.”

Like Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda, CNN discovered DTC’s story through YouTube.

Last January, CNN, with award-winning producer Tim Shwartz visited the Philippines to do a feature on DTC and Peñaflorida.

Shwartz reportedly commented, “I knew your story was good. But now, I think it’s great.”

Peñaflorida will be featured on CNN’s Larry King Live Friday at 6 p.m. He was already interviewed by King Thursday morning via satellite with the help of ABS-CBN.

“Di ako makapaniwala na makapasok sa isang award giving-body na nagre-recognize sa mga kagaya ng mga batang nasa likod nito ngayon. Actually, ang mga totoong heroes dito ngayon itong mga teenager na walang kapaguran na tumutulong sa akin. Talagang collective effort ito sa gusto naming mangyari na maraming kaming matulungan,” he said.

According to Peñaflorida, DTC’s work is simple, and this can be done by other youth regardless of their economic background.

Through DTC, Peñaflorida hopes to inspire the youth and other organizations to be heroes by doing something good for the country. TJ Manotoc, ABS-CBN News

Today, a group of young people in Cavite is creating their own sort of Katipunan, fighting for children’s rights, arming themselves with compassion and determination to push for change.

The Dynamic Teen Company (DTC) is making their own history with their project Kariton, Klasrum, at Klinik (K3). This project also helped them grab a spot in the 2008 Ten Accomplished Youth Organizations (TAYO), in recognition of the youths’ contribution to community service and nation-building.

The K3 project, which started as a pedicab outreach in 2004 is now a full-blown mission, reaching hundreds of unfortunate kids in Cavite. The kariton (pushcart) that the group designed converts into a classroom with a library, chairs, tables and chalkboards, packed with school supplies and educational toys to be used in teaching.

This kariton also houses the klinik (clinic) that conducts annual hygiene orientation project, gives supplies like soaps, towels, toothbrushes, combs, shampoo, among others.

Just last month DTC upgraded the K3 project and is now called K4 to represent Kariton, Klasrum, Klinik at Kantin. And after winning the TAYO, DTC has been getting attention from local and international media, with no less than CNN International making a documentary about the group.

For more than a decade now, DTC has been helping the underprivileged children, pulling them away from the bad influences of today’s harsh environment. The group works in the depressed areas of Cavite city particularly in the Cavite City Public Market, Himlayang Caviteño Cemetery, a former city dumpsite, and an area where the Badjao tribes congregate.

“Since Kuya F (Efren G. Peñaflorida Jr.), our founder, lives near the slums and the cemetery and dumpsite, he saw that most of today’s young delinquents and gang members are in those areas. He thought of instead putting them in jail for the crimes they commit, why not prevent that from happening by nurturing these kids early on in life and introducing them to the love of learning,” relates 16-year-old Emmanuel Bagual, DTC chief executive officer.

Away from the Dumps

DTC was formed by four high school teens from Cavite National High School in August 1997. Efren “Kuya F” Peñaflorida Jr. founded the group of around 20 members from their campus to divert the attention of the students from joining gangs and notorious frats that were thriving on campus.

Eventually, it became a friendship club that catered to youth awareness projects, talent development and self development activities. In 1999, Peñaflorida, who lived and was raised in a shanty near the city dumpsite, started to reach out to kids who were scavenging in the dumps by giving them clean food instead of the dirty leftover food they scrounged from trash. More young people started to join its feeding project, the “Kalingain Batang Mahirap.”

In 2003, DTC started the literacy work when the founder took up Education in college. At that time the group, particularly Peñaflorida, was noticed by ABS-CBN and recognized him as one of the Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Kabataang Pilipino awardees in 2004.

About 75 percent of the cash award from ABS-CBN were used to fund the regular schooling of potential youth leaders and to purchase a pedicab for the literacy and feeding work of DTC.

“Since 2003 up to the present, we are teaching mostly unschooled, labor-exploited and neglected kids in the streets. We trained to teach under the supervision of Kuya F who is a professional educator. Hygiene and first aid skills are being supervised by registered midwives and professional nurses who are DTC alumni. We conduct weekly feeding, first aid treatment of scabies and wounds and values formation activities,” Bagual explains.

Bagual also shares that the children are slowly reaping the benefits of the projects. “The beneficiaries are progressing, health wise, and are having total development. Former drug users and petty thieves have turned around helping as volunteers. Former scavengers are now in school and help in raising funds through performances and recycling drives and other projects. Some of the children who remain unschooled now know how to read and write.”

The youth organization is also starting a food bank drive and on its early stages in their campus tours, promoting the group’s advocacy on human rights awareness. Last year, DTC also launched a fund- raising concert and songwriting competition entitled LAKBAYAN (Likhang Awit Kabataan para sa BAYAN). This June, the group is planning to launch DTC in the Metro Manila area.

Changing Lives

Most of DTC’s former beneficiaries are now returning the favor in great gratitude.

One of these “changed” individuals is 16-year old Michael Rageree “Myk” Advincula. A senior high school student, Myk  was a former solvent addict, a self-confessed thief, a juvenile delinquent, a garbage scavenger at age six. But he is now giving back to DTC, working as its business manager in charge of raising funds through recycling and operating a mini store. He is also one of the volunteer teachers.

One of the younger volunteers, on the other hand,  is 10-year old Kesz Valdez, a former street urchin who suffered from unhealthy conditions almost all his life. He too was exploited and worked as a scavenger in the trash dump and even worse, at one point, was stealing to survive.

With DTC’s help, Kesz is now enrolled in a formal school as a third grader who is showing great progress. Young as he is, he also volunteers as a hygiene demonstrator model to other kids, teaching them how to wash hands, brush their teeth and take a bath properly.

“Kesz also attends Kariton Klasrum at Klinik to assist other kids in reading and to play with them. He also saves up all year round to buy slippers and clothes to give to child beggars on his birthday. In 2007, he was able to give around 20 gifts. Last year, he bought 54 new pairs of slippers as his gift to the homeless kids in the streets who are his classmates in our Kariton Klasrum at Klinik,” Bagual shares.

DTC members all agree that the fruit of their labor far outweighs all the sacrifices and the hardships that they encounter in carrying on their mission. They of course know that at the end of the day, it is still the government that has the responsibility to carry out much-needed social services. But the spirit of helping just became so contagious that these young people can’t help it but do their share.

“Never be afraid to take risks especially in doing the right thing. We know we can make a difference, dream of a better world and act towards it. We are the change, so let us fulfill this dream by changing one heart at a time,” Bagual admonishes.