A Brief History
Leaving the relatively comfortable grounds of the Provincialate, Sr. Christine Tan*, together with five other Good Shepherd Sisters, founded the Alay Kapwa Christian Community in 1979. In her words: “The only reason we had for changing our mode of life was to find Jesus”. Thus they found two rooms with no floor and no toilet in an urban poor community in Manila. The sisters encour
aged the poor to come close to God - through prayer, by living the gospel, and by reaching out to their fellow poor. They wanted the community to discover their dignity as Filipino citizens and children of God. In the last twenty-five years, the communities whose lives have been touched by the lives of these nuns have changed. The people are more knowledgeable of their rights, and are more responsible citizens struggling to help themselves and their neighbors. Alay Kapwa Today
Today, the Alay Kapwa Chrstian Community is alive and well. It is run by a group of eight – five lay persons (three who come from the urban communities) and three religious sisters. It has over 3,000 members in Manila, Cavite, Quezon, and Cebu. The group has three areas of focus:
• Educational Scholarships – On the belief that education is the “only fighting chance” that the poor have, over 900 deserving youth are provide full scholarships and school supplies. Of note is the thrust to give especially talented youth opportunities the chance to study in private schools.
• Income Generating Projects – To promote self-sufficiency, start up funds and technical support are provided for livelihood projects that are managed and operated by Alay Kapwa urban poor groups. These projects, in turn, donate part of their profits to support the Aid Projects. There are twenty-nine running livelihood projects that employ around four hundred Alay Kapwa members.
• Aid Projects – These projects that rely mostly on external donations support Medical/Health programs, Value Formation programs, Milk, Rice, Day Care and Feeding programs, Crisis and Housing programs.
* Sr. Christine passed away in October 2003.
