Center 1 Group 1

Amalia Libo-on, Isabelita Blanca, Editha Gayat, Remencita Suelan, Lordivica Fontino

To form a group with the Grameen system for microfinance, it takes 5 women to make it happen. These women become the guarantee, the collateral to the loan that will be credited to them once their application has been approved.

For Project Dungganon, it was in 1989 where five women took that chance to enter into an organization that was still building its reputation in the microfinance industry. In the past, the most common way to loan money was through loan sharks with very high interest rates that may result to losing everything that you have including the home you have built in a land that you don’t even own.

But for Amalia Libo-on, Isabelita Blanca, Editha Gayat, Remencita Suelan and Lordivica Fontino, the integrity and sincerity that the loan officers have showed them made it possible for these women to embrace the opportunity that was being presented in their small dwellings, a place hardly visited by the people from the city. A simple act that has led to a relationship not only among the women but the center that was built through the years believing only on themselves and the organization that made them hope and dream again.

Starting with a small loan for as little as P1,000 with a one-year term, these five women ventured into an enterprise holding only to their basic human survival skills while hoping that they could have better lives with their families. Taking one day at a time, using the little knowledge they have with their intuition and creativity, these women crossed their paths of change.

What seemed impossible at that time became an instrument to make these five women believe that even with strangers, physical collateral was never a concern. Instead, with Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation, the faith established between the two entities became an entry point for a relationship that would sustain them through two decades.

With small businesses like a sari-sari store, hollow blocks, piggery and other ventures, the loyalty that they have given to Project Dungganon has brought a respite to the poverty that has been part of their life. Because of this breathing space, these women have been able to live on a day-to-day basis without falling into any kind of wrongdoing that would go against the values being practiced among the Dungganon members.

The wealth they have incurred through the years may be diminutive to most but to them it was everything they had. With the little amount that they had, it was never really about becoming loaded with money and power. It was always about making it through the day without begging or starving. Having a roof over their head, with a shirt on their back and eating three course meals a day with the luxury of a little snack here and there, the pinnacle of success was already within their reach.

And although success may be relative in definition, these women have achieved a point in their life where even the smallest solution of resolving the financial condition was enough for them to say they have a better life compared to others.

It has been twenty years. Amalia, Isabelita, Editha, Remencita and Lordivica struggled but never wavered. Instead, they held on to their dreams believing that they can it into something. From that point, Project Dungganon helped in giving them a better life, a better tomorrow.

Poverty can always be felt inside and out. Although these women may have risen from their poverty-stricken condition, it seems that they will never really feel that they have crawled out of that bondage. It is a brand that they have worn for a long time that even if wealth were looking them in the eye, they would still consider themselves poor. And although this miserable truth may be heartrending, there will always be a tiny spot in their heart that will keep on beating in the hope that they have become better and that they truly can.

And in their own words:

“But with the little capital being loaned out to us Project Dungganon, it made us feel that we can rise above that impoverished state and and lead ourselves to a more comfortable way of living, all in God’s time. Thank you Project Dungganon!“