LOUIS FAURE, 24

THE EXPAT COMMUNITY BUILDER @FARMBOYLOU

Louis Faure came to the Philippines in 2014 as an intern for Gawad Kalinga. Fast-forward two and a half years later, past the “romantic stage of volunteering” (his words): he has returned, remained, and has been in love ever since. “Filipinos taught me how to love,” he said during our call. Take that, Paris.

During the time he’s spent in the country, Louis has worked with GK’s Enchanted farm as an agribusiness development officer. “PayMaya is my partner in chicken farming as it is the best way to pay and get paid. PayMaya can also be used for rapid disbursement of financial assistance through PayMaya accounts with reloadable cards. These PayMaya cards can be used to pay for basic needs such as food and medicine from groceries and other physical stores that accept card payments.“

Over the phone I heard the voice of a sprightly young man, but also detected a guy with wisdom way beyond his years. “If you live in your comfort zone, you only live half a life.” After a turning point on a nine-day hike in Corsica, France, he learned something valuable. “Fear is what holds us back. It’s funny, because fear is something that we learn. We are born with this intuition, with this fearlessness, and that is something we must learn to keep.”

I asked him why millennials get such a bad reputation. “Our generation has a different set of challenges,” he said, “and for our parents, it was all about the pursuit of comfort. But we must choose our own path, we must make our own path.” He adds, “Comfort is what kills us. It makes us soft. It makes us weak. You’re not fighting for something.

“If you’re comfortable, you won’t know what commitment means. Commitment has a lot of value. It pushes you to go the distance.” How do we even begin, I ask him? “You have to find your own inner excellence, what makes you a beautiful and unique human,” Louis said. “You have to be grateful, you have to see what has been given to you. Do not take it for granted, use it for good.”

Use it for good he has. Two students from one of the Gawad Kalinga communities are now attending the same school where Louis graduated. Because of him, a former troublemaker and a petty thief now study in one of the best business schools in the world.