Program Testimonies

From Dolores Gagatam (ICM): “Hazel from Progreso Active Mandalagan in Bacolod City has two children and her husband has no work. She is a pre-elementary teacher whose income is P1,500 monthly (P50 per day, about 1 US dollar). Through the card making, the husband was able to help find the dried leaves and materials and helped his wife with the cards. The income gained from the cards was more than Hazel's monthly teacher stipend, and they it used to buy food and also to pay for the birth certificates of the two children (birth certificates are needed to gain entrance to elementary school).”

ICM Staff Member: “One recipient of a Microloan targeted at Women Leaving Prostitution had struggled to provide for the needs of her husband who was a sufferer of TB. Medicines and nutritional food were needed to help fight off this terrible disease. After obtaining a microloan from ICM, she was able to obtain a tricicad and earned up to 300 pesos per day to sustain her family's needs. Since her husband recovered she is now hoping to avail another microloan for a second tricicad that her son can drive, providing further income for their family.”

From Sheri Kierulff (ICM): ”Last year, I was part of the ICM staff who attended a card training in Jimalalud and followed up 2 weeks later with the card collection. All the recipients were excited to receive their money, but one family in particular said they'd been waiting as they needed to buy food. An hour later, we actually saw the fruits of their labor - we were standing on a corner waiting for our ride when Pastor Ramos pointed and said, "Look at that!" We all turned and saw that family packed to overflowing in a small pedicab, waving and grinning hugely. As they passed, we saw a very large sack of rice weighting the back of the cab almost to the ground. Their blessing was also ours, seeing their happiness made our hearts overflow too.”