Clementina’s Will for Change

Once she made the decision to attend ICM’s Transform program, Clementina never wanted to miss a lesson. She organized her life so that she would be able to attend the lessons and still have time to take care of household chores, her children and her disabled husband, Sulpicio. Clementina really enjoyed the livelihood lessons, particularly the cooking and gardening.  Clementina decided to put her new skills into practice and has started a snack business. She wakes up as early as 3am every morning to start preparing puto cheese (steamed cheese cake) and banana cake, and finishes at around 4-6am. After selling all of her snacks at the local elementary school by 9 am, she returns home to tend to her garden and her vegetables. With the extra income, she is planning to improve her house and expand her business. That expansion includes diversifying  –  Clementina is hoping in time to buy livestock feed to sell to surrounding farmers. Once she has more capital, Clementina is aiming to make and sell more snacks, even going to neighboring districts to sell her products. She is excited to have a plan and dreams for her business. Clementina also has plans for her family and their health. She now places emphasis on both environmental and personal hygiene and reminds her family to wash their hands. She also cleans her house daily and makes sure that the food that she serves is prepared properly. She boils the water before drinking it in order to prevent diseases from bacteria or germs. Clementina suffers from diabetes but she has managed to make her situation better with herbal medicines that she learned about during the Health lessons. Her garden not only blooms beautiful flowers but provides healthy vegetables for her family to eat. Clementina is excited to have goals to work towards.  She is happier as she can apply her knowledge to her her life and circumstances. ICM’s Transform program is a 16-week learning experience that expands the capabilities that the ultrapoor need to flourish. Weekly, ICM Health and Livelihood trainers join the pastor as they teach ICM’s interactive Values, Health and Livelihood curriculum.