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At 4, Kesz ran away to a dump site, struggling to stay alive. After he was gravely wounded from falling in a pile of burning tires, a man named Harnin Manalaysay cared for him and eventually became his guardian.
On his seventh birthday, Kesz told Manalaysay that he didn’t want birthday presents. Rather, he wanted to give gifts to street kids. Now Kesz is 13, and his charity, Championing Community Children, has given gifts to 5,000 street kids in Cavite City, an act of selflessness that has earned Kesz the 2012 International Children’s Peace Prize, an honor that comes with $130,000.
Today, Kesz educates children living on the streets about personal hygiene and he takes care of their wounds, according to a video made about his story.
"I teach the children how to wash hands properly, brush their teeth daily and bathe regularly. I believe that some of these street children we save will pay the act forward to help champion their own communities," he told GMA News Online.
Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu, a retired Anglican bishop from South Africa who opposed Apartheid, presented the award on Sept. 19.
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“These young people show the incredible resilience in the human spirit,” Tutu said of the three children before him. “I congratulate this year’s winner.”
Said Kesz, according to the prize website: “My message to all children around the globe is; our health is our wealth! Being healthy will enable you to play, to think clearly, to get up and go to school and love the people around you in so many ways. To everyone in the world, please remember that every day, 6,000 children die from diseases associated with poor sanitation, poor hygiene, and we can do something about it! Please join me in helping street children achieve better health and better lives.”
He dedicated his award to his guardian, Manalaysay, GMA News Online reported.
"I look up to him as a father. He is the first person who made me feel loved so it is only fitting to dedicate this award to him," Kesz said.
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Good for him. I hope he invests the money wisely and continues his mission to help others. If the money is invested wisely, he will be in a better position to help far more people than he can with just $130,000
He can also begin to have security of his own for once. Bless his heart.
I'm pretty sure he will use little of it for himself. Hopefully nobody screws him out of it before he can use it for his program.
hmmmm
we should all be ashamed of ourselves. 'and the children will lead.' i go on these sites and i read people b**tching about everything you can imagine and spewing lies and hatred for each other. and look, look at this. one child puts us all to shame. if we all spent half as much time seeing what we could do to help others without judgment, if we spent our time trying to find common ground and not spewing our holierthanthou dgmas, imagine where the world would be.
God bless this child and i hope his story goes viral. for once, something wonderful and good and kind.
Alessa - exactly, this 13 year old former street kid has just shown the entire world something and given us a lesson few will learn anything from.
If there is a God, he doesn't need to bless this child, as this child has been blessed without any God - he did this with the help of one man and himself. God pretty much took a dump on this kid and he fought through it to teach a lesson to the world. This kid doesn't need a God, hell, with legend, he could practically be one himself - puts others first, looks out for the least fortunate, teaches them lessons and how to live better, speaks of love and helping others, tries to teach the world to take care of those living in the worst conditions and the 'unwanted' ones, etc...
You're praising this boy but at the same time you are spitting on his faith. I bet if you ask this boy he would tell you that God did in fact help him.
Where did this story say anything about the boy's faith on anything? That's right, it didn't, but anytime there's a story of goodness, people want to attach a God to it.
Look at the kid's own statement - he does not mention God anywhere.
alessa, you said a mouth full. sleepinsadie, lived in the Philippines for a short while, been married to a filipina for ten years. The last I read, 87% are catholic. There's a good chance he believes in God and could definitely give us all lessons.
Don't be so hard or yourself Alessa, and us. Most people do good deeds here and there. The good often goes unreported. I feel comfortable that the good I have done far outweighs the bad. Hopefully, most of the people here can say the same, if not, it is never too late to start. The little things count too.
That child is a living saint though. I hope someone who can gives him another million; 1%'ers, are you listening ?
Three cheers for Kesz Valdez. The Nobel Peace Prize couldn't go to someone more deserving...hint...hint !
Woods <> <> <> " The evil men do lives after them. The good is oft' interred with their bones." ------- William Shakespeare
Congratulations, Kesz!
What a nice story. I am saddened tho by his beginnings and the bigger picture of what this tells.
Yes, recently the news showed 4 women to a bed in a Philipinne hospital with their new babies - the point being crushing poverty and birth control that was too expensive for those poverty conditions. Awful! Hope that boy will get a good education, sounds like he is cut out for medicine.
Living on the reservation all my life, I have a lifetime of seeing, feeling the effects of poverty. I was lucky, after I spent 3 1/2 years in the Army (Viet-nam era) I had my GI bill which enabled me to attend college. After school I worked at our local boarding school for Native Americans, the largest in the nation there are native children from all over the United States. I have seen young children arrive with only the cloths on their backs, I have seen them show up wearing two different shoes and worse. I know many say: well it's their own fault or they are lazy,etc. Well there are many reasons, many being culturally related. The truth is there is no jobs or opportunities here for the people. Most parents would give anything to have a job but they are just not here to have. The average American has no idea how it is to live on the reservation so they have no insight into the problem(s). I believe if factories would locate on the reservations they would find good employees glad to have jobs. I know I have only scratched the surface of life on the reservation and there can be books and books written about the many different aspects of the problem. Thank you for the story, it is good to read such good news and see there are people in this world getting rewarded for their work. I wish this young man all the best and I know he will put this money to good work. Alessa, you seem to be a very compassionate person this world is a better place because of people like you and thank you for your comments. While I know many do not agree with what I have wrote, many of them have never spent time trying to survive on a Native American reservation where unemployment is as high as 80%. Hau Mita-kuya-oyasin (We are all related)
wow, what a powerful story! It's nice to see some good news for a change.
How completely good!!!
What a great story, and a great kid; I hope he continues to do well for himself and his community
A very nice story indeed. It's nice to see stories like this instead of the all to often violent stories. One thing the article had mentioned (After he was gravely wounded from falling in a pile of burning tires) Should have read Injured instead of Wounded. Did the tires shoot him?
God is good to the people are good to others..
Mabuhay!
God is not mentioned at all in the article....but already everyone is have a religious discussion. Folks....it is about action...it is about action.....do the work...do the work.