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Monday, September 05, 2005
Agfi boosts women’s livelihood
TO lovers of the best-tasting Cebu lechon, the twine used to sew shut the pig’s belly must be the least appetizing part.
To Lenelyn Carsula and other housewives like her, the twine is not just a throwaway detail. It is a lifeline ensuring the survival of their families in Barangay Suba-basbas on the coastline of Lapu-Lapu city.
Ironically, despite the hundreds of lechons sold in and exported from Cebu daily, Carsula and other mangbebelyo (rope-weavers) like her earn only a measly sum of P6 for every standardized length of coil. Middlemen buying from the weavers reap more profits when they sell these coils at a much higher price to lechon vendors and other entrepreneurs.
But a more promising future may await Carsula and co-members of the Subabasbas Women Association of Rope-Making (Swarm) and two other local groups once they maximize the P440,000-daycare and enterprise center granted to them by the Aboitiz Group Foundation, Inc. (Agfi).
During the center’s recent turnover and blessing witnessed by Lapu-Lapu City First Lady Paz Radaza and Barangay Captain Gregoria Justiniani, Agfi president Erramon Aboitiz said the Subabasbas center is the latest project undertaken under the foundation’s twin programs in enterprise development and primary health and child care.
Agfi project officer Wilfredo Bayking added that the Subabasbas center is a “combo,” it being both a daycare and enterprise center. This project came about after barangay leaders and residents noted that mothers and caregivers were idle while waiting for their preschool children at the center.
After expressing the need for a facility that will enable them to utilize their various livelihood trainings, local groups like Swarm, Women’s Organization of Ropemakers in Kapilis (Work) and Pundok sa mga Ropemakers Mindulog Panas Tribo (Prompt), submitted a proposal for assistance to Agfi.
Councilor Robert Espinosa, chairman of the livelihood committee, said the groups will be convening soon to carry out their planned income-generating activities such as cooking and catering, producing floor wax, and sewing clothes.
The three groups, with a combined membership of about 64 women, will have the advantage of having their children attend classes in the daycare center on the ground floor while they work on the second floor.
Angelita Jumao-as, daycare worker and livelihood volunteer, foresees that the bulk of livelihood activities will focus on the traditional work of rope-making.
Carsula and Jumao-as are optimistic the groups can apply for capital to buy abaca, lampacanay, lanot and other fibers which they will make into rope to be used by shipbuilders, lechon makers and even producers of decorative woven baskets for export.
By earning more, the Subabasbas women foresee themselves as being not just equals to other entrepreneurs but also to their menfolk in supporting their families.
(September 5, 2005 issue)
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