F.A.R.M. without Borders

Bidibidi attended the Rural-Based Organizations National Forum on 18-21 May 2009 at the Bohol Tropics Hotel, Tagbilaran City, Bohol. She shares with us her experience.

"I was invited in the Forum as a "success story" guest speaker, to talk about the business I am engaged with. So I had a slide presentation that showed my experiences on: La Huerta; Bidibidi Catering, which serves seminar participants and trainees at La Huerta using fresh harvest in the menu as a way of promoting local farm cuisine; the Cafe des Artes, being a venture of friends, enhancing one another's passions; and last about doing business with my passion, with what I love doing - F.A.R.M.

F.A.R.M. was mainly about artful recycling and what i do with ukay finds: fabrics to quilts, bags, curtains, etc, and the vintage buttons bracelets. I had an audience of 1000 women, from Aparri to Sulu. They loved my story and were evidently inspired by it. Sold 100pcs in less than an hour. More wanted to buy but I didn't have enough. It was such an enriching experience.

A family of a Tausug tribe wanted the bracelets, and asked them to send me a pic of the daughters in full tribal regalia, with the bracelets worn by them. Their costume is so colorful! The mom said she will have pics of the daughters in formal and informal tribal costumes.

The women were telling me how inspired they were of my story especially that I am single, so the singles, the widows, even the married ones were aglee! It was so touching. The claps were thunderous at that point. Everybody wanted to take pictures with me. And they would touch my arms, as if touching me would cure them. It was really so touching, I could hardly control my emotions, and I bawled out when I was back in my room and alone.

The most touching was when after the stocks were sold out, a mother from Bacolod, came up to me and asked if she could still buy even just a piece. I told her it had been sold out but I had some, which I purposely didn't sell as I needed them for a client. She was pleading I was actually red from embarrassment. Then she told me she brought her daughter with her and that the daughter saw the bracelets and asked her to buy one, and she didn't know what to tell the daughter if she didn't have one. I was actually firm on my decision until she told me her daughter was a special child. So I gave in. The next day I saw this smiling teen whispering to the woman and realized it was the special child. She was beaming and went up to me to hold my hand. I wanted to have our photo taken but was afraid the mom would mind so i didn't bother. I wept after that because I still couldn't imagine how I could have this effect on her. And also because of the responsibility that comes with this "charisma".

On a less serious note, I was thrilled that Secretary Arthur Yap remembered my name and invited me to his office so I could tell him more about F.A.R.M. I'm looking forward to that day."

On its 111th anniversary, the Deparment of Agriculture will launch a commemorative book that features 111 successful farmers, and we are proud to say that Bidibidi is one of them. Hats off to you, Bida!