“I may be blind but it does not mean I can’t reach out. I still have hands and legs to be able to help out my family and community.”
-SEEING THROUGH THE EYES OF FAITH-
Marites Anire does not regard being visually challenged as a reason to lose hope. As a mother of three, she tries her best to support her family needs through the small earnings she gets as ‘manghihilot’ or massager. It is her way of helping out her husband who is a farmer in order to meet both ends.
Marites confessed that her lack of vision “came as a huge turning point in her life” as a person, and as a mother. She openly shared that frustrations and disappointments crippled her when at the age of 30, she completely lost her sight due to hereditary factor. She was afraid that she could no longer be of any help to her family. This challenge was doubled due to lack of treatment.
“My blindness is genetic. We did not really have enough money for medical treatment, it gets worst as time goes by. At first, I wanted to end my life but the support of my family regained my strength.”
Faith from God and love from her family replaced all her emotional distress.
“If I decided to let my frustration consume me, I would not be able to know that life would be this rewarding. My family is the best support system I got; they never left me.”
– A MOTHERLY LOVE –
In fact, Marites can still able to support her children’s education through her small earnings. Marites tries to teach and assist her children on their assignments and modules. She proudly said that her eldest Mariflor is now 18 years old, and only a few years to graduate from college.
“I wanted to be the good example to my children that despite of my condition, I can do everything to take good care of them.” she said.
-HER BURDEN IN ACCESSING THEIR BARANGAY ROAD-
Marites shared that she still struggles to move, or walk due to her lack of vision. The poor road condition in her community in Brgy.Pagbabangnan , San Julian Eastern Samar, even challenged her more everyday. Marites attested that she stumbled many times as she walked through a rough and muddy road. She needed her eldest daughter Mariflor to guide her. “
Mariflor serves as my vision when I walk along the road. She had to be in front of me, and I would need to dearly hold unto her arm.” They decided to only walk to reach the highway in order to save the fare.
“If we need anything from the proper town, we will walk the one- kilometer road to save fare. Tricycles found it difficult to pass our very rough and muddy road; thus, the reason for high transportation cost. We just saved our fare for our meals.” Further, Marites shared that this main road is the easier way to access connecting to the highway going San Julian town compared to the other downhill path, at the back of the barangay.
-POOR ROAD CONDITION MEANS DIFFICULT ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES-
Marites might be blind but she is sensitive to the pressing needs of her community. According to her, it is hard for them to evacuate during calamities or disasters. Further, health-related aid is often delayed most especially in this pandemic. Thus, when their barangay was offered a fund support from Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Kalahi-CIDSS to address their community need, they did not hesitate to grab the opportunity. Pagbabangnan then prioritized the 369 linear meter road. Construction of this Php 2.5 Million project was started only in January this year and now, it is ready to serve the community.
-DSWD KALAHI-CIDSS FACILITATES SAFER ROAD, AND IMPROVED ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES-
The improvement of the access road paved the way to a better and comfortable life, as it improves their access to the socio-economic, education, disaster-response, health-related facilities, and services inside and outside their barangay.
With the improved access road, it is now safer and easier for Marites to walk down the road. Marites also shared that her daughter does not need to get in front of her to guide her. She can now walk side by side with her.
Most importantly, it will now make their community speedily access to any public, disaster-response and health services inside and outside their barangay.
Marites also pointed out how proud she feels that the project was built through the bayanihan of community volunteers, barangay, municipal and provincial local government units. More than that, Maritess takes pride that despite her being visually impaired, she took part in the implementation of their access road.
-MARITES ON BEING A PROUD DSWD KALAHI-CIDSS VOLUNTEER-
“During a Kalahi-CIDSS activity, I immediately raised my hand and stood up when asked who wanted to volunteer.”, Marites cheerfully exclaimed.
Proving herself that she can do what other people with vision can was her motivation to volunteer.
Marites takes joy in educating herself through attending various Kalahi-CIDSS and barangay activities. Her children and co-volunteers would gladly helped her interpret necessary documents and assisted her to understand discussions during meetings.
Now that the project is completed, she considers it as “one of the greatest milestones in her life.”
She said,“ I am happy that my children are proud of what I have conquered.”
She added, “I may be blind but it does not mean I can’t reach out. I still have hands and legs to be able to help out my family and community.”
-DSWD EMPOWERS THE VULNERABLE & MARGINALIZED SECTORS TO BE RESILIENT-
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Kalahi-CIDSS through its Community-Driven Development (CDD) strategy aims to empower even the most vulnerable and marginalized sectors of the society. The agency’s CDD strategy encourages them to participate in analyzing their needs and implementing and sustaining the government-funded projects.
More than the fund support to implement projects, the DSWD Kalahi-CIDSS program aims to train the community in fostering local economic and social resilience to address the ever-evolving challenges of the decade.
In the end, Marites pointed out that with the help of her family, she tries to remain strong against all the challenges she encounters in life.
She also believes that DSWD teaches their barangay that coming together as a community helps them to be resilient, and it stood the test of time. ###
