Hope Looms

A postcard from the Philippines by Opportunity Ambassadors Philippa and Andrew Tyndale 

Five years ago, the village of Salngan near the coastal town of Iloilo in the southern Philippines was a forgotten community, so poor and marginal that even local people didn’t know it existed. Poor farmers rented small plots of land to grow enough vegetables to sell for subsistence. In a good month, they made A$50. This was never enough to send their children to school, and hopelessness, malnourishment and despair were rife. 

The remaining spark for this community, barely flickering, was the age-old indigenous art of weaving. Just five people in the community had kept the handicraft alive, though the designs weren’t fashionable and the looms were ancient. A few years ago, thanks to the donations of its supporters, Opportunity International Australia, its microfinance partner TSKI and AusAID were able to help fund a weaving co-operative in the village, training the younger generation in the art of weaving, helping them produce new designs and giving them access to the tool of their trade – a loom of their own.

Today, weavers in the village earn an average of A$105 per month. Not much in our terms, but in a country like the Philippines, this increase has been enough to help transform Salngan and the families who call it home. There are now 28 looms at work in the community, busily peddling out metres of elegant designs. The formation of the co-operative has brought cohesiveness and unity. Forty-two of the families now have a livelihood, and many of their children are in school for the first time. Their success has made Salngan visible – tourists come to see and buy their beautiful work. For microfinance provider TSKI, the next stage of this project is to train an adjacent village to design and sew the fabrics so the communities can work together without being in competition.

The chair of the co-operative is 48-year-old Virginia Macaya, who, on our visit, tells us with great pride that she’s been able to send her two boys to school and can now afford rice. It’s hard to imagine what it would have been like to not to be able to afford even the most basic food for survival. She and several members of her co-operative tearfully relate the changes the weaving program has brought to their lives. Their program supervisor later explained how impressed she was that they could stand up and speak to us at all. Another member, Alissa, told us she once thought she had nothing to offer, as her family had been too poor and had to stop sending her to school after just Grade One. She soon learned that despite her lack of education, she had much to add to the collective wisdom of her co-operative. This sense of personal empowerment was reflected in each of the weavers we spoke to.

This is a wonderful example of community development in action. Salngan has a community centre and a children’s health centre. The weaving co-operative has lifted both the entrepreneurial capability and economic activity of the entire village. In building communities like Salngan, we often support initiatives and not find out the end of the story. This is because the end, or perhaps beginning, of the story comes with the breaking of generational poverty in the lives of the recipients’ children. Visiting this community gave us a glimpse into that future – one where the invisible, marginalised poor stand proudly before us, while their children take that confidence into their own (improved) futures. We’ve learned not to doubt that even a small amount can have a huge impact when put into the right hands.