Author Archives: Heifer Philippines

Discovering Livestock’s Potential to End Poverty

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Ursula with her family's pigs.

Freddie Cabrales was a native of Barangay Aurora, Santa Josefa, Agusan del Sur in the Philippines. He is the third son among eight siblings. His parents’ main source of income was farming that supported only the family’s basic needs. As tenant farmers, Freddie’s parents were in constant financial hardship. After graduating from high-school, his parents could not afford to send him to college, so Freddie helped his family by going to work as a farm laborer. He was eventually hired as maintenance worker and harvester in a banana plantation in their province.

Ursula Cabrales is from Barangay Pamotuanan, Lianga, Surigao del Sur. She is the eldest daughter in a family of nine.  As the eldest, Ursula felt obliged to take her part in supporting the family finances, so after graduating from high school she went to work as laborer at the same banana plantation as Freddie. A friendship developed and blossomed into a romantic relationship between Freddie and Ursula. After six years of pre-marriage arrangements, the couple decided to settle down and start a family of their own. When they were married, Ursula was 23 while Freddie was 21.

The couple continued to work at the banana plantation, and att the early stage of their married life, everything ran well. Their modest income was just enough for the basic needs of the couple, and they sent a little savings to their respective families. But when their first baby was born, they started to face financial challenges. Although they were expecting a baby, they were not prepared for Ursula’s difficult pregnancy and delivery. They were financially unprepared for a hospital delivery since giving birth in their village was commonly attended by community health volunteers or a mid-wife.

Because of hospital expenses, the couple became indebted to the company were they worked. Ursula stopped working in the company and focused on her new role as a mother to their newborn, Krisia May. Freddie at this time was the sole earner in the family. Considering the large amount of loaned money that was automatically deducted from Freddie’s monthly payroll, the family suffered a great financial difficulty. They had no one to help them, not even their own families. Prayers to the Almighty and a positive outlook in life kept them afloat. After two years, their second child, Kiar Ian, was born. Even with the financial challenges, the family endured; the happy family welcomed their new baby boy with fresh hope.

Then one day the family was surprised by the news that the banana plantation where Freddie was employed was closing due to bankruptcy. This really bothered Freddie and Ursula — they felt so helpless, and they needed to support their growing family. The couple made use of their skills as farm laborers. Both of them engaged in seasonal farm labor in their neighbors’ farmlands. They asked their neighbors to watch over their two little children while they were worked in the fields. Their situation was not easy as Ursula recalled, “There were times that my husband and I would skip meals because the food was just enough for the two kids.” “We would go to sleep with an empty stomach—thinking where to get food for tomorrow,” Freddie added. “The neighbors were tired already of our promises just to borrow rice and sardines and repay them pay as soon as we could.”

The financial crisis of the family had gotten worse in addition to the fact that two more children were added to their brood. They now had two high school students, one grade-school-age child and a nursing infant. This is when the family decided Ursula would work as a domestic helper in Kuwait. This was the only way they knew that would help them escape poverty.

Ursula was earning US $357 every month in Kuwait, and she was able to send most of that money to Freddie for the family finances. Although still insufficient, the family made do with what they had. After only 18 months, Ursula called up her family informing them that she would be coming home in a week. Ursula arrived home with bare hands: no luggage, no presents, just her old self…but different. Only then the family learned that Ursula suffered maltreatment from her employer in Kuwait. She was abused both physically and mentally, forcefully locked up at her employer’s house and given spoiled food to eat. She managed to escape by jumping from an open window of the second floor and ran to the Philippine embassy in Kuwait to seek help. The family decided not to let Ursula work abroad again.

Ursula’s painful experience caused her psychological trauma. She was afraid of going out of the house or meeting people in their community, and her self-esteem depreciated. Freddie went back to seasonal farm labor work again.

When asked what helped them survive the bad days, their simple reply was “we still had dreams —to be free from poverty. We knew it could be done, and we believed it could be done.”

Freddie and Ursula’s outlook began to improve when they joined Heifer International’s RISE Project. The family is one of the members of the ASFA Self Help Group. They received a swine fattener and a gilt. They also received vegetable seeds, corn and soy beans. The project has a component of feed milling, thus the whole project received one feed mill. The group attended technical seminars and trainings related to the nature of the project, and the families learned about begin part of a coop-enterprise.

According to the couple, they are starting to realize their dreams for their family through the project. Ursula, who is the representative member of her family in one of the self help groups said, “During the Cornerstones workshop — I became hopeful and renewed to go on living for my family; my favorite cornerstone is Sustainability and Self-Reliance. I almost lost this value because of past experiences.”

At present, Ursula ensures the health of the pigs received by providing them enough food rations in reference to the recommended technology they learned from the series of the project trainings. She was also elected as the Project Management Committee (PMC) secretary. Ursula was also selected to participate in the RISE project Farmers Field School on Swine Production.

Freddie, on the other hand, asked his parents to let him borrow a portion of land where he can plant vegetables and corn. Freddie’s parents asked the permission of the land owner, and the latter generously granted Freddie’s request. Just recently, Freddie harvested 10 sacks of yellow corn; it was sold to the group as raw material for the feed mill. He earned Php 7,000.00 ($167) from his corn, which he considered as his first income as a farmer.

Last January 6, 2012, Ursula sold the swine-fattener to the local market of Santa Josefa after 3 months of feeding. She received Php 13,000 ($310) as sales for her 145 kilogram pig. She deposited Php 2,500.00 ($60) to the SHG as her Capital Build Up (CBU) for their feed mill enterprise, and another Php 2,500.00 ($60) was deposited to her self-help group as savings in preparation for the feed her sow and gilt will need. She had Php 8,000 ($190) as cash on hand. Minus the total amount of feed for three months, she is proud to say that she earned an income of Php 4,000 ($95).

Last May, her sow delivered 13 healthy piglets. Since the sow gave birth at midnight, Ursula and her family helped to ensure the sow’s safe delivery. Ursula is very enthusiastic in sharing her experience and stressed the application of the knowledge gained from the trainings on swine production. Upon weaning, one of the piglets was given to the owner of the breeding boar, and she chose two of the healthiest and best piglets for the pass-on. Ursula sold the 10 piglets for Php 2,000 ($48) each. Thus, she earned a gross income of Php 20,000 ($476) for this specific cycle alone. For eight months, Ursula and Freddie earned Php 28,000 ($667) from the pigs and piglets they sold.

Freddie and Ursula are discovering livestock’s potential to end poverty. They never experienced raising livestock until the project came. Now, they bought an additional gilt to expand their swine production. They also improved and expanded their flock of pigpens from the money they earned from the sales of piglets.

Their family is now a picture of happiness; they can now eat three nutritious meals a day. Ursula, when asked what she wants to share about her past, responds with a shy smile, “I do not want to look back. My family’s future is much brighter now. Freddie and I are more hopeful that we can provide good food and a good education for our children. The past is history now; I want to concentrate on the future, that is – to pass on the gifts we lovingly took care of.”

Ursula Cabrales gives a speech at a Heifer International ceremony

Ursula gives a speech at a Passing on the Gift ceremony.

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Reaping the Fruits of Hard Work

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A Heifer International project participant works at a food cooperative in the Philippines

Jane Lutong at work at the Barangay Food Terminal in the Philippines

Story by Jun Dom-oguen and Marifee A. Lucaney; Photos by Jun Dom-oguen

Over the past three months, Jane Lutong began to reap the fruits of her hard work and has gained empowerment through participation in Heifer International’s project in Bauko and Sabangan, Philippines. Barely 10 months after receiving gifts from Heifer — including a gilt (a young female pig) — Jane was able to sell eight of the pig’s offspring.

“I am lucky with the gilt I received because it costs more than the project budget per gilt, I added one thousand pesos to be able to get the gilt, which was really big and matured. True enough, just after the original placement celebration, the gilt already was in heat so I mated her immediately. She gave birth after four months and I fattened all the piglets,” Jane says. “I sold eight of them which gave me a gross sale of [US $1,364] I still have one left in preparation for my pass on. I am again taking care of three piglets, which my mother pig gave me for the second time.”

Jane is a very active self-help group member, and she is very proud to say that she has perfect attendance at all the group’s activities.

“I strongly believe that the success of the cooperative is due to the fact that they are living most of the cornerstones we learned from our project. These include full participation, accountability, sharing and caring, genuine need and justice, training and education and spirituality,” she says. “There is also good leadership and all are committed to the cooperative vision. We have started with good foundations, which are Heifer’s Cornerstones.”

Jane is also a very active member of the Maggon Rural Improvement Club (RIC) in Maggon, her community. As a demonstration of her personal development, she was selected to represent Maggon to the National Organic Agriculture Congress in Baguio City in June. “I can’t believe that I was able to present the result of our earthworm composting project during the Congress to the Secretary of Agriculture of the Philippines. I was trembling at first but my self confidence really grew, thanks to our Heifer project, which honed my skills in public speaking. Who would have thought that a sixth grader in me could speak in public and teach others about a technical subject?” Jane said proudly with a big smile.

Jane used part of the proceeds from the sale of her pigs to renovate an old house inherited from her parents. As if the universe conspired to bring her luck, their Rural Improvement Club (RIC) project (called Barangay Food Terminal) was approved. She leased the renovated house to RIC for a very minimal amount. At the same time, Jane became the sales clerk of the terminal.

“I accepted the offer because I can still take care of my pigs while doing the job. I also practice what I learned from the recording and book keeping training I attended sponsored by Heifer International,” Jane says. “I will only get 30% of the net income of the store, but it will help our self help groups as it will also serve as an outlet for our products — especially vegetables.”

Jane enthusiastically took on more duties, leading the monitoring of families and livestock to update information for each pass on. She reported that 20 families were ready to pass on in September based on the sizes of livestock offspring. “I will be happy if all the members of this project will be able to pass on gifts by November. The earlier the better so that other families will have the opportunity to receive gifts. It will also be an honor for our community if we pass on early,” Jane says.

Since Jane is also a member of the feed formulation group, she had the opportunity for a co-learning visit to the Sun Jin Feeds Milling factory in Bulacan. “My goal was to learn more about feed formulation, taking into consideration that Sun Jin feeds are better. True enough, I was able to see the processes of feed formulation from preparation to packaging. I was able to validate the facts we learned – that quality ingredients give quality feeds, and in formulating grower feeds, it is very important that crude protein should be 18% because if is less or more, pig growth will be affected. I think we are now really ready to formulate our own feeds.”

With several months to go before project completion, Jane continuously demonstrates the levels of impact Heifer wishes to see from the partner families. From a reserved mother, she is now gaining the respect of her fellow partner families as she is empowered to lead others by example and hone her skills and develop leadership capabilities, not only for her benefit, but in service of the community.

Editor’s note: This post is part of a series that follows the progress of specific families, starting at the beginning of their work with Heifer. You can read the first post about Jane Lutong and her family here.

Jane’s newly renovated house which is now a Barangay Food Terminal.

Jane feeding her new fatteners (second generation offspring of her pig)

 

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Disaster Reduction and Gender in the Philippines

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Today is the United Nations International Day for Disaster Reduction. This year’s theme is Women and Girls – the [in]Visible Force of Resilience.

The rural poor suffer greatly from disasters of all kinds every year. It is because of their poverty and often precarious living conditions that they are particularly vulnerable. In many of Heifer International’s projects, we provide training and support in Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction (CMDRR) Efforts.

Gender roles vary widely between cultures. Although women’s social, economic and cultural position in many societies makes them more vulnerable to natural hazards, they are important agents for change, development and advocacy. For more than four years, Heifer Philippines has worked hard to incorporate women in disaster reduction efforts.

Disaster Reduction: Disaster Drill at a school

Students perform a disaster drill as part of their Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction Plan. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Evelyn Martinez, 39, is a mother, wife, village leader, educator and ardent advocate of CMDRR in Lamba, a coastal village in Legazpi City, Albay. Lamba is a quaint village of 1,286 residents who have suffered countless typhoons, floods, landslides and the fury of the most active volcano in the country, Mayon Volcano. Mayon’s eruptions in December 2009 displaced 12,000 people, causing serious, longterm damage.

“We lacked knowledge and skills, we just left everything to fate, we were scared and helpless, we just looked at these hazards face on and admitted to ourselves that there was nothing we could do to help ourselves. Looking back, our community just realized that lack of knowledge is vulnerability, and vulnerability kills. When Heifer came to our community and extensively trained us on CMDRR, life was never again the same. We are no longer vulnerable, because we understand everything that needs to be done before, during and after hazard events.”

Evelyn became very active in all disaster reduction trainings. In fact, she was chosen to be the CMDRR committee chairwoman in their barangay (village).  She is one of the most knowledgeable resource speakers on disaster reduction in Lamba. She trains other project members, other communities, academics and anybody who wants to learn from Lamba’s disaster reduction experience.

Disaster Reduction Plan

Evelyn shares the risk and capacity map, indicating families living in high-risk areas and where families should go for safety during a disaster. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

Heifer Philippines’ view on gender roles in disaster reduction is elaborately explained in one of the United Nations documentation on Women and DRR, to wit:

Women and children are particularly affected by disasters, accounting for more than seventy five percent of displaced persons.  In addition to the general effects of natural disaster and lack of health care, women are vulnerable to reproductive and sexual health problems, and increased rates of sexual and domestic violence.  Moreover, gender roles dictate that women become the primary caretakers for those affected by disasters – including children, the injured and sick, and the elderly – substantially increasing their emotional and material work load.  Women’s vulnerability is further increased by the loss of men and/or livelihoods, especially when a male head of household has died and the women must provide for their families.  Post disaster stress symptoms are often but not universally reported more frequently by women than men.

With this reality, the Heifer project families of Lamba took specific gender roles in relation to disaster reduction to heart. Before and during typhoons, Evelyn and the women in the community:

  • Secure family assets, clothing and important documents
  • Prepare food, medicine and first aid kits
  • Prepare other members of the family, especially children, pregnant or nursing mothers, the disabled and the elderly, to evacuate if needed

Older children are tasked with assisting their mothers in food preparation, taking care of younger siblings, running needed errands ensuring their own safety.

These roles are clearly defined and well explained to all families. When facilitating trainings, Evelyn ensures nobody is left out. Everyone has a role to play and can contribute, no matter their conditions.

These roles were put to the test when a strong typhoon hit the community in 2010. Everyone remained safe.

In addition to specific disaster risk reduction trainings from Heifer, the overall improvements in families’ livelihoods has dramatically increased their resilience. Self-help groups form savings groups to ensure that no matter what happens, after each hazard event, the community can easily bounce back. They also plant climate-resistant crops such as sweet potatoes and other root crops to have a secure food supply. They have planted mangroves along coastal areas near their community, which act as windbreakers, protecting the village from destructive winds.

Disaster Reduction: planting mangroves in Lamba

Heifer project participants plant mangroves in Lamba as part of the community's Disaster Risk Reduction efforts. Photo courtesy of Heifer International.

“Preparedness is the key. We cannot be complacent. Hazards can come anytime.  We are prepared, and we know what to do”, Evelyn proudly shared.

“We used to lack knowledge and skills on how to deal with hazards and were always scared out of our wits whenever the typhoon season came, leaving our livelihoods and our very lives to fate. Damage from typhoons caused more hardships to our already poor community. Through the Heifer project, we learned a lot from the Cornerstones and through trainings such as CMDRR. We learned how to take care of our livelihoods and safeguard our lives against disasters and avoid suffering the indignity of just waiting for relief. We have become a disaster resilient community.”

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