A survivor from Typhoon Storm Pablo in Dec 4, 2012, Aurel Ignacio, 30 yrs. old, joined the “Hollowblock Making Production” in July this year, 7 months after the typhoon devastated their homes, livelihood and the whole of Bagangga and neighboring towns.
“The training has really helped me a lot in terms of starting our life again, specifically in our source of livelihood” he said happily after making quite a number of good hollowblocks and get paid for what he produced.
Ignacio’s seasonal job for quite sometime was a harvester of coconut fruit ( “mangaritay og lubi”). Most barangay of Baganga were covered with coconut trees. Whenever an owner wanted to harvest his coco farm, he would always present himself so he could earn and have a money to buy food for his family. But after having survived the typhoon, seeing that all coconut trees were shattered, he became problematic with his family’s daily sustenance and confused on how he can buy food and other needs of the family. He doesn’t know what to do next after seeing that there were no more coconut trees left to harvest.
So when he heard about Balay Mindanaw and the hollowblock-making training, he got interested and thought of joining the training. He tried hard to learn the details and practiced the processes. One by one, he shared his experience-—bringing together cement and sand, putting water and mixing up all together. Then put some of the mixture in the molder to firm it and let it solidify. After three days of letting the blocks stand, they have to be sold to the house builders in ban-ao, if they are good, hard and sturdy.
After making quite a number of strong hollowbolocks after the training and being paid for what has been produced, Ignacio relates, “I can now buy food and bring something for my family.” His wife and 2 children also survived the typhoon. And they have been very supportive of him and his new work, visiting him in his workplace and sending him meals. This kind of strengthening the family bonding motivates him more to work hard. It wasn’t easy for him to make hollowblocks at first because all he knew was to climb trees. But through practice, even after the training, he learned the techniques and became confident on building the blocks. Now, hollowblock making serves as one of the sources of the family’s income.
His experience of learning how to make the blocks has made him more confident, hopefull and capable to see more possibilities. From a hopeless man, he has become more reliable and has developed positive outlook in life. He thought that he cannot sustain the familly’s needs anymore. But with his perseverance and his willingness to pursue what he had learned, he is now optimistic and confident in planning for his family’s future.
Aside from the changes he observed about himself, he also noticed the happiness of his fellow “hollowblockers”. The program has imparted them trust and confidence and strengthened their friendship and camaraderie towards each other. In many ways, conflicts in the community are easily managed and resolved.
“No one can help us but only ourselves..we should work hard and give the best that we can” was his positive remarks. Despite what happened, he know that God is present. He is now hopeful that his family will be able to recover and improve their lives through their united effort. (Regine Y. Mordeno)