Community Stories

I am Saturnino Lumagbas, a fisherman on the island of Trinidad Tubabao. I am raising my family alone because my wife has passed away. Our life, as a fisherman, is occasionally on the brink of death. Because at sea we are sometimes hit by bad weather like heavy rain and stormy weather. Sometimes even when the weather is bad we still continue to sail because our family needs something to eat every day. Even if our life depends on it, we will still have to sail for our family. And when we look at it – sometimes our boats got damaged and our engines have problems, especially if they have been used for a long time, and we can't go home right away, especially if no one can see and help us. But even though we are experiencing such hardship and trials, we will continue in our work and will not be overcome by the difficulties of life. For our family is what gives us strength. Life as a fisherman is very hard, sometimes our income is not enough to provide for the family's needs. Show love for your father and be like us, for we sacrifice a lot for our family and children. We should not be ashamed of our livelihood but we should be proud of it because this supports us to live.

I am Susan Alamodin, fifty-nine years old, living in Bangaray San Pedro, Quinapondan Eastern Samar. I am a female fisherman and the women’s leader of our association. I am proud of my career as a fisherman. Every day I go with my husband and son to the sea to provide for our daily food and other necessities. What we catch are squid, shrimp, danggit [also known as rabbitfish] and sometimes we also catch crabs. In the few years we have been fishing there are days that we catch a lot but there are days when we have none. But we have to try every day for our family. What my husband and son do at sea, I can do too. I can tolerate the heat and cold for my family. My role is not limited to accompanying my husband and son to the sea, I also process our danggits so that we could sell them at a higher price and increase our income. Because I am also a leader in the women's association in our area, I also teach fish processing to help their families. I give time to teach and provide extra knowledge to working-women to help their husbands. I wish I could share my story, especially with women – that we can do whatever men can do, especially in employment. Women and men should be treated equally. I believe and I will prove that a woman can do what a man can do.