Efren Peñaflorida is from the Philippines, but fame found him in Hollywood during the ceremonies '2009 Hero of the Year.' ceremonies presented by the CNN cable network.
Penaflorida is a social worker and educator in the Philippines, and he won the award for bringing education to Filipino youth one pushcart at a time. Every week, the 28-year-old Peñaflorida and volunteers from his Dynamic Teen Company wheel pushcart classrooms — or Kariton Klasrum in Tagalog — to serve as mobile classrooms. The volunteers act as itinerant teachers, providing free lessons in math, English, science and hygeine to poor and underserved children in the province of Cavite.
"Every Saturday, he pushes the cart to different sites across the city," according to CNN's announcement of his honors. "He brings reading, writing, and arithmetic to the children. He gives them a place to sit and learn in peace. He teaches them basic hygiene — washing their faces and brushing their teeth."
The ceremony for the November 21 CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute took Peñaflorida to the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. He wore a traditional barong shirt and carried a small Philippine flag during his acceptance speech, when he told the crowd that he and his colleagues at the not-profit Dynamic Teen Company are not alone in their commitment to serve others.
"Our planet is filled with heroes, young and old, rich and poor, man and woman of different colors, shapes and sizes," he said. "We are one great tapestry. Each person has a hidden hero within, you just have to look inside you and search it in your heart, and be the hero to the next one in need. So to each and every person inside in this theater, and for those who are watching at home, the hero in you is waiting to be unleashed. Serve, serve well, serve others above yourself, and be happy to serve. As I always tell to my co-volunteers of the Dynamic Teen Company, 'you are the change that you dream as I am the change that I dream — and, collectively, we are the change that this world needs to be.'"
The honors from CNN left him grasping for the words to describe the experience.
"It's overwhelming — I can't explain it," Peñaflorida said in an interview with the Asian Journal the day after the ceremony. "This is not just for me. It's for all of the volunteers and everyone [who is] part of Dynamic. It's a great blessing for us. It reaffirms that what we're doing is right."
Peñaflorida is the first Filipino to be nominated for the annual CNN Heroes awards.
Before announcing the winner of the award, CNN 360 Host Anderson Cooper gave this message of hope, "we are all reminded that everyday people can change this world..."
Peñaflorida says he is one of those "everyday" people. He considers himself as an ordinary person just wanting to help the wayward and underprivileged youth in the Philippines.
"This [award] is not something we expected — this was not part of our plan," he said. "Our goal is to just help the kids and to introduce teenagers to education, self understanding and have an alternative to gangs and teen violence. They have a choice of making a difference in a positive way."
The Dynamic Teen Company aims to offer Filipino youth an alternative to gangs through education. According to the Preda Foundation, a local human rights charity, there are an estimated 130,000 teenagers who are members of gangs in the Philippines.
Poor children are most susceptible to gang influence and membership, according to Peñaflorida, who said that he experienced the pull first hand.
But when a gang member challenged him to a fight, Penaflorida walked away and embraced his education, promising to create a positive alternative for other children to build a better life. For Peñaflorida, that meant returning to the slums of his childhood to give kids the education he felt they deserved.
According to CNN, since 1997, an estimated 10,000 volunteers of the Dynamic Teen Company have helped teach more than 1,500 children living in the slums. The organization supports its efforts by making and selling crafts and collecting items to recycle.
Aside from the award, Peñaflorida also received a $100,000 grant from CNN to continue his work. He was voted CNN Hero of the Year from among the Top 10 CNN Heroes, all of whom were honored at the event in Hollywood. More than 2.5 million people voted online for the winners.
Peñaflorida said that the grant money would go towards his organization. He said he would continue to build more pushcarts and a learning center with the money he received.
"This money is for the kids' future," he said.
Peñaflorida said that his efforts have sparked interest in places as far away as Kenya and India, adding that all of the attention doesn't make him see himself or his work any different.
"This is for us, for the selfless," he said. "Everybody can be a hero just by doing simple things. You don't have to be rich or famous to make a difference just do it not for yourself but do it for the other people."
For more information on how to donate or help Dynamic Teen Company, visit www.dynamicteencompany.org.
Joseph Pimentel is a writer for Asian Journal.
Photo from Efren Peñaflorida.
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