Tanauan, Leyte – After Typhoon Yolanda toppled her home, Amelia Suyom, 41, now lives in a makeshift home in Barangay Cabuynan that stands out from the rest of the improvised houses in the area.
Her home is fully decorated with goods that is characteristic of a sari–sari store like bags of biscuits, coffee packs, candies, laundry soaps, noodles, and more.
Likewise, around her home are vegetables like squash, okra, and pechay that she planted as part of her backyard gardening. She learned to maintain a backyard garden as part of her learning under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
“Katatapos ko lang mag-ani ng 70 pirasong kalabasa nitong summer. Dinadala ko ang mga ito sa munisipyo para ibenta. Gusto ko roon kasi malamig, hindi katulad sa bahay namin. Minsan, sumasaglit din ako roon para makipagkuwentuhan. Marami akong kaibigan doon (I have just harvested 70 pieces of squash this summer. I sold these at the municipal hall. I like it there since it’s cooler than in my home. Sometimes I would go there for chit–chat since I have gained a lot of friends there),” Amelia gleefully told the staff of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) who interviewed her.
She put up her sari-sari store way behind Typhoon Yolanda through a P5,000 capital assistance provided by the Self-Employment Assistance-Kaunlaran (SEA-K) Program Level I of DSWD.
She is thankful that she was able to rebuild her store after ‘Yolanda’.
Difficult times
Prior to starting her own source of livelihood, Amelia cannot help but laugh upon recalling the things that went through her life.
“Regular akong kliyente ng DSWD-Crisis Intervention Unit (CIU) mula 2005 to 2007 (I was a perennial client of the DSWD-Crisis Intervention Unit from 2005-2007),” Amelia recounted.
Twice a month, she would go to the CIU to beg for rice and canned goods.
She would also often ask for some cash to buy medicine for his son, Renzo, now 17, who was then suffering from Meningitis.
These were trying times for Amelia, especially that she was left alone by her husband to rear their three children.
She survived these difficult times by becoming a beneficiary of the Job Network Service (JNS) which was designed to link perennial clients of DSWD-CIU with prospective employers.
It is a safety net to provide assistance and social protection to individuals in dire economic situations. It aims to empower and enhance the financial capability of unemployed individuals to become self-reliant, productive, and contributing members of the society.
The project was implemented in DSWD Field Office VIII from 2008 to 2011.
The beneficiaries of the project were provided with the following services: job matching, occupational guidance and counseling, skills training, and granting of cash assistance for transportation, processing of requirements while looking for jobs as well as food subsidy while waiting for job placement.
For Amelia, she was given financial assistance to start a small livelihood project.
As a successful beneficiary of the JNS, Amelia was once invited to give her testimony during a DSWD-organized gathering in Manila.
Better times
In 2009, Amelia was lucky to have been included in the SEA-K, a non-collateral and interest-free loan of the DSWD. She used the P5,000 capital assistance she got to expand her livelihood project provided through JNS.
From that time on, she stopped knocking on the door of the Department.
Through hardwork, she was able to expand her business. Fortunately, her sari-sari store was not greatly affected by ‘Yolanda’.
She was, in fact, prepared for the typhoon. Amelia was able to save most of her goods like bath and laundry soaps and toothpastes by wrapping them in plastic bags. For the candies, these were carefully placed in bottles.
Her house was washed away by the storm surge, but some of her goods were saved as these were trapped by floating woods.
Amelia even related a funny story of how she struggled with strong winds to keep her bag with P4,000 and medicines of her ailing son.
After ‘Yolanda’, she rebuilt her sari-sari store from the different financial assistance given by various groups especially Tzu Chi Foundation.
Cash grantee
In 2013, one of Amelia’s three children, Christian Jay, 9, was included in the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, the agency’s conditional cash transfer program that invests in the health, nutrition, and education of zero to eighteen- year-old kids.
Aside from the cash grants, Amelia said that Pantawid Pamilya also taught her how to meet their daily food needs through the backyard farming that is being promoted by the Program. She grew organic vegetables right in her backyard for their own consumption and for added income. She continues her backyard farming until now.
Community involvement
Amelia has not only worked towards improving her family’s plight. She also started to show her concern for her own community by allowing her eldest son to join in various endeavors for development under the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (Kalahi-CIDSS).
Through Kalahi-CIDSS, the poorest villages in the country are able to identify their primary needs and implement projects that respond to their problems.
Lawrence has participated in the implementation of community projects like the construction of a 695-meter tire path receiving of P160 per day as allowance. The tire path links Brgy. Cabuynan to the farmlands.
Amelia would have wanted to personally participate, but she has to take care of her sickly younger son.
More than the assistance
For Amelia, more than the capital assistance and technical support she got from DSWD, what she values most is the time that the staff spent on listening to her problems.
“Sila ang naging sandalan ko noong panahong kailangan ko ng suporta (They became my support system to go through the difficult times),” she ended. ###