The difference is Kara By Maridol Rañoa-Bismark (The Philippine Star)

Kara David has never been content just being a journalist. She always aimed to be a journalist who can make a difference.

The I-Witness and OFW Diaries host takes it upon herself to change communities she covers for the better. Shooting unnerving images of want and despair just won’t do.

“After we say, `Cut!’”, pack up or leave the community, kulang ang pagkatao kung naging journalist lang ako,”she says.

So Kara put up Project Malasakit Foundation eight years ago to give poor but deserving young people she meets in her I-Witness reports the education they deserve. Some of the 15 scholars are referrals from her reporter-friends, who, like Kara, have gone all over the country.

Kara sends them P1,000 monthly allowance for food, transportation and school projects. Boyfriend and fellow TOYM awardee Dennis Mendiola created a website and monitoring system that will help Kara keep track of donations and the scholars’ progress.

“I don’t send the lump sum because they may buy something unnecessary,” explains Kara. “In return, the scholars send me their grades.”

The foundation has taught Kara that good Samaritans are everywhere. But distrust in government is keeping them from giving as much as they would like to.

“They’re cynical. They don’t know who to give the money to,” observes Kara.

Yes, she too has grown cynical about government. But her feelings about Juan dela Cruz is another story. Kara is dumbstruck at the resilience of the humble folk she meets, especially in places only the brave and the determined dare go to.

The sight of poor people temporarily forgetting their own plight to help their neighbors touches Kara to the bone.

“People in other countries are individualistic,” she observes. “But we manage to keep our hopes alive because of our Bayanihan. Pinoys are resilent, despite the poverty.”

Take Ambulansiyang de Paa, the I-Witness episode that won Kara and her team — made up of executive producers Angel Directo and Lloyd Navara, former program manager Kristoffer Brugada, cameraman Disney Carren, assistant cameraman Aldrin Lacson and researcher Wilma Sesaldo — the prestigious Peabody award.

The episode, shot in the poor Mangyan town of Apnagan, Oriental Mindoro, showed residents bringing their sick and injured to the nearest health facility, by foot. It was no walk in the park. But it’s the only way tubercular Lowen Tayo, broncho-pneumonia patient John Lloyd and badly-burned Wendy, can find relief for their aches and pains.

The message of hope amidst the squalor floored the Peabody Board, composed of TV critics, broadcast and cable industry executives, academicians and experts in culture and the arts.

Peabody jurors cited the episode for “Condemning deplorable conditions while celebrating neighborly valor and ingenuity, the report shows how people in a poor village carry their sick and injured over dangerous terrain to distant medical care using ‘ambulances on foot.”

It all started with a what-if moment for Kara and her I-Witness staff in GMA network.

What if they don’t have the ambulance they take so much for granted? Where will they bring their sick loved one in case of emergency?

Thus was Ambulansiyang de Paa born. Winning an award for the coverage took Kara by surprise.

‘I just wanted to come up with the best script so people will donate and help this sick kid,” reveals Kara. “That would have been enough to make me happy and fulfilled.”

She ended up not only happy and fulfilled. Kara also learned a thing or two about life from the people she rubbed elbows with. Kara saw people in remote barrios subsisting with P100 or less a day, and realized how lucky she is all over again.

“Before you buy a P400,000 luxury bag, think. How many school buildings can that build? How many scholars can that send to school?”

Now, Kara need not go to the classroom to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. Her classroom, she says, has become a lot, lot bigger. And her colorful students have taught her things no teacher sitting behind her desk could ever learn,

The single mom passes these lessons on to daughter, Julia, nine, The girl joins Kara’s outreach programs every Christmas. On her last birthday, Kara didn’t throw a big party for Julia, even if her mom can afford it. Instead, Kara brought her daughter to a remote community where they gave presents to the needy.

Will Kara’s priorities remain the same, even if she gets married?

The answer is a resounding yes. Kara’s boyfriend shares her compassion for the needy. Aside from being the governor of Red Cross, Dennis Mendiola runs Chikka.com, which helps OFWs keep in touch with loved ones and therefore cements family ties.

Now you know why Kara gets more inspired even as she keeps on inspiring others. She’s just returning her blessings by giving her best as a journalist with a purpose.