Ashoka
Philippines 🇵🇭
Though I was born to both parents being Missionary Pastors who spent most of their time in the Bible School and doing Christian work and Missions, I grew up as a Lukewarm Christian, or rather a Part-Time Christian, a 2-hour per week kind of Christian. During my teenage years, I chased after what the world could offer, entertainment, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. I never knew God personally until 2012, when I was in the Navy, where I was an Underwater Combat Medic. An incident happened that I needed to go on a Rescue Mission, an incident which almost took my life. From then on, I started to live every day as if that day was the last one I would have. I began to question my existence and my purpose in life.
Throughout the years, I was invited to a few Churches to give my Testimony, and they asked me again to provide a talk for the Youth about the purpose and meaning of life. From then, I became a Youth Pastor at a few community Churches.
Eventually, I began to have the heart to do humanitarian work after my Pastor invited me to visit New Smokey Mountain. I saw the state of absolute poverty; the first thing I saw was a funeral (some said the life expectancy is up till age 45 only, it is considered a blessing if they age above 45.. due to the lifestyle and environment), the second thing I saw were kids as young as 4 years old, already helping their parents to work by picking up garbage and selling to the junk shop.. (if they don't do that, they won't have anything to eat for that day), instead of going to school or playing like an average 4-year-old. From that situation, God gave me a heart for the Filipino people, especially those living below the poverty line. I began to give talks and fundraise and establish partnerships with Businesses for their Corporate Social Responsibility, Nonprofits, Churches, and the Government, to help the below-poverty-line individuals in the Philippines to have sustainable projects like Interest-free Microfinance projects, Scholarships, Livelihood, capacity building training, and counseling, to ease the burdens and to alleviate their poverty. Not forgetting their spirituality, the requirement to receive Interest-free Microfinance, Scholarships, Training, and other benefits, is to attend Church regularly. Some of the beneficiaries have already started giving back to society by providing free educational tutorials for those experiencing hardship in their studies, creating projects that bring the community together to help one another, through the spirit of 'Bayanihan' or cooperative undertaking, by bringing their leftover food and distributing to the hungry, they became Changemakers in their own communities.
As per Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, before Self-Actualization (Spirituality) can be achieved, other needs need to be solved first (physiological, safety, belongingness, esteem, cognitive), and I'm aiding in the process and innovating along the way, while developing Changemakers in everyone that I meet; mentoring the beneficiaries of the Microfinance towards creating sustainable (social entrepreneurship) jobs that bring employment to their own communities, to alleviate poverty.
To date, I have sourced capital for Microfinance projects to 250 beneficiaries, provided 800 Scholarships, and more than 3000 participants for Livelihood Training, to the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.