Efren Penaflorida, A new breed of Hero, A Filipino

Another Filipino has gained worldwide recognition; he is Efren Penaflorida, a mobile teacher who earned the respect and admiration of the international community for his unique way of pushing for his advocacy.  That is, by pushing a cart or Kariton to educate impoverished out of school youth.

Kuya Ef, as fondly called by his students, was born and raised in Caridad, Cavite to a poor family.  A son of a tricycle driver and a vendor, Efren used to be bullied by gangs near his school but managed to finish his studies through his own perseverance.  At the age of 16, he formed a youth group to address the growing problems of drugs, fraternity or gang membership, and decay of conduct of youngsters in their area.  He was joined by two friends and came up with Dynamic Teen Company in 1997.

Since then, Penaflorida has religiously pushed the cart of his mobile classroom to reach out and provide the education that these unfortunate children deserve.  Together with other volunteers they teach reading, writing and arithmetic every Saturday.

In a special CNN ceremony held at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Efren received a trophy and cash price of $ 100,000USD.  He bested 9 other candidates and was selected after seven weeks of online voting and according to CNN, more than 2.75 million votes were cast.

Upon his return to the Philippines, he is set to receive another honor, this time from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  He will be conferred with the Order of Lakandula, one of the highest state honors, as announced by Malacañang.

You can view his acceptance speech here