Transform is back with some tweaks for the new normal. After an unprecedented year filled with challenges and constant change, we are pleased to bring back our core program that helps the ultra-poor improve every area of their lives. Over the next few weeks, our staff members are starting to run socially-distanced lessons in communities that have loosened their Covid restrictions.
To celebrate, let’s look back on how Transform can bring holistic change to ultra-poor families. Annabelle from Kalibo took part in the program in 2019.
Anabelle first heard about Transform from her neighbor while buying fish balls. She’s never heard of this new program that was coming to their community. As a housewife, Annabelle’s days were fairly predictable and even monotonous, so this new activity intrigued her.
A Life Transformed
Just a few months later, Anabelle’s life was almost unrecognizable!
She surprised her neighbors by statring a snack business from her home. After sending her older children off to school, Annabelle cooked puto cheese (sweet rice cakes with cheese). She sold the delicacies around the neighborhood, her youngest in tow. Not content with just one business, she also joined her savings group’s cleaning product business. Her group voted Annabelle as secretary, making her responsible in keeping track of loans and savings contributions.
Annabelle also started thinking about improving other areas of her life. She took the health trainer’s advice to purify their drinking water by boiling it first. Her Transform notes came in handy when her son got sick.
The values lessons made Annabelle think more about her relationships leading to her and her partner Darius taking the next step in their relationship: marriage! They jumped at the chance to get married when they heard about the mass wedding sponsored by their local government.
All of Anabelle’s hard work has been for her family. Every early morning selling puto cheese, all the time spent teaching her children to properly wash hands, and every contribution to her savings account was so that her family could have a better life.
“They are so important to me,” Anabelle said. “It’s not too late to make a new beginning with them using my knowledge from the training.”