The Association of Negros Producers (ANP), Hope Builders Organization Negros Island Inc. (HBONI), and CPSU Radyo Muscovado Sweet FM (RMSFM) conducted livelihood and tutorial activities to residents of Sitio Madaja, Brgy. Buenavista in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental on August 13, a press release from HBONI said.
Sitio Madaja is located in the northern portion of Brgy. Buenavista, approximately 15 kms. from the city proper. Despite the distance and the risk that the area was once inhabited by the rebel groups, the team conducted entrepreneurial mind-setting with basic product pricing and costing, hygiene and sanitation, and tutorial session for the children who are literacy and numeracy struggling, Reymund Titong, HBONI head for external affairs, said in the press release.
The villagers were into farming that was limited to their consumption and not designed for commercialization or selling purposes, Titong said, adding that aside from agricultural farming, some community members know how to weave different products made out of “tikog” and other raw materials available in the area.
“Tikog” is a type of grass that grows in a swampy area and has a solid, jointless and usually triangular stems.
Twenty “tikog” weavers gathered at the residence of Wilme Garlet to attend the entrepreneurial lecture spearheaded by Sybel Nobleza, ANP external affairs manager, for them to gain relevant information concerning the proper costing and marketing of their products.
Also 25 children joined the one-on-one tutorial session with the assistance of four volunteer-teachers from the Department of Education and some HBONI youth volunteers.
The volunteer-teachers echoed their concerns as these young children have low numeracy and literacy level that alarmed the team, Titong said in the press release.
After the training, the team distributed 38 plastics of food packs and 47 sets of school supplies to prepare the children for the opening of classes.
The weavers also thanked the ANP for the opportunity to be mentored and for helping them to market their crafts not just on the local scale but with an international perspective of upscaling.
During an initial assessment of the team a month ago, they found that the community is only generating an average income of P1,000 a month. After the assessment, the ANP intervened and brought a sample product to the Negros Showroom in Bacolod City and started to market the product, the press release said.
Today, the community has already received a number of orders for their “tikog” products amounting to more or less P15,000, it added.
“For a small but thriving Sitio of Madaja lies a rich cultural imprint worth sharing. Nonetheless, the protracted nature of conflict affects the entire community’s future. With limited access to education, livelihood, health, and other essential services from the government and other organizations, a generation of children and community living in conflict will not flourish, exacerbating the already identified infiltration of the unrecognized presence of some communist-terrorist groups in the community. In addition, electrification and accessible farm-to-market roads are the community’s primary concerns and other neighboring sitios in the barangay,” Titong said.
After the activity, the team vowed to bolster further ties with the 94th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army headed by Lt. Capt. Van Donald Almonte to help and capacitate the organization’s adopted community at Sitio Madaja, the press release also said.
Aside from Titong, also present during the activity were teachers Kenneth Bacala – HBONI founder, Warren Geronca – HBONI director, Riza Carasaquit, and Rengie Apatan, as well as youth volunteers Aldin Yanos, Mark Lorenz Bendol, Apple Joy Hechanova, Erica Salazar, and Vincent Diesta.*
