I am Analyn Calicoy Quiminales, a fisher and a member of the Handicraft Group. When my son was still young, I just stayed at home to take care of him. But when he grew up, I started helping my husband in fishing. Then when I got pregnant again, I am just staying at home as a plain house wife with no source of income. When I became a member of the Handicraft group, I observed that I am always busy. The extra time before that I used to watch television and sleep, is now being used to work to become more productive.
At first when, Ma’am Marge asked us to choose the group we want to join, it has always been in my mind to join Handicraft group, because of my interest in arts. When I watch television, design and handicraft products always catch my attention. I even made Christmas Tree decorations out of the old clothes of my baby instead of buying new plastic flowers for Php10.00 each. During the trade fair, the most challenging part was the bad weather condition. Each of us, has to make one “banig” for the trade fair. So we decided to pick a lot of “bariw” leaves to be used as the material for our “banig”. However, due to the rainy weather, we were not able to dry the leaves. The raw materials darken because of the moisture and some even grew molds. To save the materials, we decided to dye the leaves to make bags. We were able to make a few but most of the materials were thrown away. It was heartbreaking and sad, because we already invested so much time, effort and money. But then and there, we were able to come up with an idea to make shell crafts. We asked for permission from Ma’am Marge and then looked for washed off shells in the shore. We were careful in picking the shells, as not to use endangered ones and even small ones. Despite that, by all truth, my groupmates were scared about the huge capital that we have. They even wanted to give it back because they were not confident that we will succeed. But I told them, that with, we will be able to succeed one day. With the biggest amount given to us among all the groups, I told them that we also have the biggest chance to make more products. But among everything, I am most grateful to GDFI and G2A, because if not for them, we will not have a stronger and better house than we had before. I am also thankful that their generosity did not stop on the housing project but extended to provide as livelihood opportunities which are now giving us extra income to support our families.