Tag: Strong Women

Uganda Women

A Woman Called Samosa

Known as the Pearl of Africa, Uganda is a land filled with stunning landscape, rich biodiversity, and serene beauty. However, despite the country’s vast natural wealth, more than half of  Ugandan households still experience poverty in the areas of finances, healthcare, and education. Ugandan women, in particular, experience the harsh effects of being ultra-poor. They...

Giving Back

Bless understood what it meant to live in poverty from an early age. At the time of her birth, her parents didn’t even have a permanent home and were forced to move from place to place, staying with members of the church her father pastored. This is a common story. Many pastors who minister in...

Bearing All Things

Melmar took a huge leap for love when she married Clino and moved away to Zamboanga more than thousand kilometers away from her hometown in Bicol. She had met her husband while working in Manila, fallen in love, married and eventually moved to Clino’s hometown. But the storybook ending started to unravel when the couple’s...

A Firm Foundation

Although Rhona’s savings group in Bacolod has only been running for two years, it has become hugely successful. The group, established during Transform, began by selling detergent powder and dishwashing liquid and then later transitioned into selling rice and fertilizer. Extending loans to its members is one of the group’s main functions, vital in a...

A Persevering Spirit

Tragedy seemed to follow Cristita. Four years ago, her husband died from kidney and liver problems. Her 30-year-old son, traumatized by troubles in life, could no longer work or even walk, sitting at home and rarely speaking. With her 26-year-old daughter unemployed, the burden of caring for her two children and one grandson fell on...

Never Too Late for First Steps

Mylin, 23, lives with her partner Roderick and their nine-month-old daughter Yuri, in a house made of bamboo and palm leaves. They do not have electricity or proper water supply. Working as a farmer, Roderick makes roughly PHP2,000 (US$46.51) a month. His earnings equal US$0.51 per person, per day. It’s hard to believe that Mylin...

From Conchita’s Hands and Heart

For over 20 years, Conchita lived with a cyst on her neck that distrupted her sleep and caused discomfort. The local midwife in Conchita’s village warned her against overworking, which meant Conchita needed to pare back the hours she spent washing clothes to earn money. Forced to rely on her husband’s unstable fishing income to...

Joanne Walks into a Brighter Future after her Battle Against Cancer

Story by Helen Turner, ICM Co-CEO & COO At the recent Doctors fellowship dinner in Dumaguete I was able to catch up with Joanne Dayapdapan who was one of the first special medical case patients I met when I first started working with ICM. In 2009 Joanne was just 16 years old and had been...

Abandoned Girls Blossom into Young Women as they Start College

Judilyn Yangco and Susan Entong grew up in some of the most challenging and heartbreaking circumstances conceivable. Judilyn, abandoned by her parents, was the breadwinner for her three siblings at the age of nine and almost died from TB. Susan’s father, drunk one night, threw a kerosene lamp which burned Susan’s face, arms and neck...

Reproductive Health Conference in Mindanao’s Tribal Area

Story by Deanna Sutherland, ICM Program Support  //  Footage by Kathleen Hilado, ICM CO, Koronadal Imagine how frightening being pregnant at 14-years-old would be.  This is the reality for the young women in the mountain-dwelling tribal community called T’boli, in Southern Mindanao, Philippines.  The families in this tribe traditionally arrange for their daughters to be married...