“We used to live in a nipa hut, but the landowner drove us away,” Evelyn recalls. “We desperately needed a roof over our heads, especially the children, especially when it rains.”
Evelyn’s husband used to earn a little in farming. But not even completing their humble shelter, he developed an eye disease.
She did everything she could. It was just too much. But Evelyn never stopped hoping.
A Waray from Leyte
Young and innocent-looking Enever Verino is a Waray from Leyte, in the Visayas. At age 21, she met Albert in Caloocan City where she was then working. They fell in love and had two children.
“Life was very difficult in Manila, that is why we opted to return to the province,” Enever shared. But little did they know of the trials that loomed ahead.
Albert’s hometown in Carupay, Katipunan, Zamboanga del Norte is a hard-to-reach community, which is to say the least.
Enever was never used to this kind of isolation, being a girl from the city. But given that, money was utterly scarce – the income from Albert’s driving a habal-habal was too little to respond to the family’s needs.
She remembered the time when even table salt was way out of reach. Enever had cried a lot. She had felt so helpless. But she never fails to hope.
Johanna’s story
About two years ago, Johanna Lerona of Salug, Zamboanga del Norte was a college student. She was 36 years old then – old enough to be her classmates’ mother. She herself is a mother to three grown-ups.
Johanna has a very simple dream. In spite of poverty and despite her age, she still wanted to become a teacher. But as bad luck would have it, the school closed down. She still needed two more years.
She let it go, but she never stops dreaming. Johanna got back to her usual early morning routing, chanting “kruuuk! Kruuuuk!,” beckoning for her chickens to feed. Her sacrifices have successfully sent her children through school.
This poultry business, although reaping very minimal income before, had grown immensely through a P10,000 loan grant from one of the programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). She now also raises hogs.
“Every time my son needs money for a school project and for the tuition, new eggs would hatch, as if the hens know whenever I’m in a tight situation,” Johanna beams.
Her eldest son, Jerome has recently graduated from a criminology degree, all set for a training to join the Philippine Army. An additional consolation is, through her pushing, a senior citizen has just finished high school in his 70s – Tatay Eduardo, her father.
Johanna still has two more children to put through college, but she is highly optimistic. After the two would graduate, her turn will finally come.
Enever’s cries were soon replaced with a determination to leave the past behind. Soon, through an aid from the DSWD’s Pantawid Pamilya which now supported their children’s education needs, their minimal earnings could already be allocated to small investments and other necessities.
Eventually, they were able to start a small business in that remote community. Enever would buy red pepper from a local, and peddle these at the Poblacion market and buy a wide assortment of commodities that she would sell at their store back in Carupay. They saved up, and now they own a motorcycle, which doubles as Albert’s habal-habal and as goods delivery service.
Enever has grown out of crying, self-pitying and looking back with regrets. Salt is not a scarce commodity anymore, because now, she is a trader of it.
When all hope seem to have lost, Evelyn chose not to falter. When the family, being recipients of Pantawid Pamilya started receiving the cash grants, Evelyn wasted no time in saving up for additional investments. Soon they were able to buy a plow which helped in efficiently producing more farm produce. Not long after, she establish a small sari-sari store adjacent to their home, a work still in progress.
Soon after receiving a loan through the Sustainable Livelihood Program, Evelyn worked her way into establishing a small canteen inside the local school.
“From then on, I didn’t have to carry a table with me every day for the yema,” she quipped. A refrigerator was soon purchased, hence she also now sells ice candy.
She now makes more than enough to feed her family, get medicines for her husband, and send her children to school.
Evelyn, Johanna and Enever are women of strength. In spite of difficulties they experience every single day, they find hope to get back on their feet when situation demands it. Mothers, wives, and providers are just some of the roles that they take on. No time is wasted to take their families closer to a better way of life, to move away from the clutches of poverty.
The three women, whose stories are featured in Pagbangon, the DSWD’s anthology of success stories from their beneficiaries, represent the lives that millions of Filipino women live. But in spite of their challenges, one thing is true. They represent hope.